THE BEST ALBUMS OF THE YEAR
For people who always ask, "What are your favorite albums?" here's the answer. I start with my top pick from each year as a sort of uber list. No, it's not "the most important albums" period, just the album that meant the most to me from each year and usually that meant the album I played the most. Some years the choice was obvious, other times a few battled it out. But you could do worse as a music buff than making sure you listen to all my #1 picks. I follow this list with a breakdown of my favorite albums year by year.
THE BEST ALBUMS OF ALL TIME (MY #1 PICK FROM EACH YEAR 1924 TO THE PRESENT)
THE 2010s
JAMES HUNTER -- Hold On! (2016 -- work-in-progress)
SUFJAN STEVENS -- Carrie and Lowell (2015)
KAISER CHIEFS -- Education, Education, Education and War (2014)
JANELLE MONAE -- The Electric Lady (2013)
RUMER -- Seasons Of My Soul/Boys Don't Cry (2012)
FLEET FOXES -- Hopelessness Blues (2011)
THE TALLEST MAN ON EARTH -- The Wild Hunt (2010)
THE 2000s
THE AVETT BROTHERS -- I And Love And You (2009)
WILLIE NELSON AND WYNTON MARSALIS -- Two Men With The Blues (2008)
SHARON JONES AND THE DAP KINGS -- 100 Days 100 Nights (2007)
BOB DYLAN -- Modern Times (2006)
SUFJAN STEVENS -- Illinois (2005)
GREEN DAY -- American Idiot (2004)
THE WHITE STRIPES -- Elephant (2003)
NORAH JONES -- Come Away With Me (2002)
MANU CHAO -- Proxima Estacion: Esperanza (2001)
EMINEM -- The Marshall Mathers LP (2000)
THE 1990s
DAVID GRAY -- White Ladder (1999)
BILLY BRAGG AND WILCO -- Mermaid Avenue (1998)
RADIOHEAD -- O.K. Computer (1997)
BECK -- Odelay (1996)
THE MAVERICKS -- Music For All Occasions (1995 -- tie)
ALISON KRAUSS -- Now That I've Found You: A Collection (1995 -- tie)
JOHNNY CASH -- American Recordings (1994)
CASSANDRA WILSON -- Blue Light 'Til Dawn (1993)
kd lang -- Ingenue (1992)
NIRVANA -- Nevermind (1991)
MADONNA -- The Immaculate Collection (1990)
THE 1980s
BEASTIE BOYS -- Paul's Boutique (1989)
PUBLIC ENEMY -- It Takes A Nation Of Millions To Hold Us Back (1988)
DOLLY PARTON, LINDA RONSTADT, EMMYLOU HARRIS -- Trio (1987)
PAUL SIMON -- Graceland (1986 -- tie)
VARIOUS ARTISTS -- The Indestructible Beat Of Soweto Volume One (1986 -- tie)
BARBRA STREISAND -- The Broadway Album (1985 -- tie)
PREFAB SPROUT -- Steve McQueen aka Two Wheels Good (1985 -- tie)
U2 -- The Unforgettable Fire (1984)
R.E.M. -- Murmur (1983)
BRUCE SPRINGSTEEN -- Nebraska (1982)
QUEEN -- Greatest Hits (1981)
JOHN LENNON AND YOKO ONO -- Double Fantasy (1980)
THE 1970s
THE CLASH -- London Calling (1979)
WILLIE NELSON -- Stardust (1978)
STEELY DAN -- Aja (1977)
STEVIE WONDER -- Songs In The Key Of Life (1976)
BOB DYLAN -- Blood On The Tracks/The Basement Tapes (1975)
RICHARD AND LINDA THOMPSON -- I Want To See The Bright Lights Tonight (1974)
BOB MARLEY AND THE WAILERS -- Catch A Fire/Burnin' (1973)
SIMON AND GARFUNKEL -- Greatest Hits (1972)
JONI MITCHELL -- Blue (1971)
RANDY NEWMAN -- 12 Songs (1970 -- tie)
HARRY NILSSON -- Nilsson Sings Newman (1970 -- tie)
THE 1960s
THE BEATLES -- Abbey Road (1969)
VAN MORRISON -- Astral Weeks (1968)
ARETHA FRANKLIN -- I Never Loved A Man (The Way I Love You) (1967)
THE BEACH BOYS -- Pet Sounds (1966 -- tie)
THE BEATLES -- Revolver (1966 -- tie)
BOB DYLAN -- Bringing It All Back Home/Highway 61 (1965)
STAN GETZ AND JOAO GILBERTO -- Getz/Gilberto (1964)
PATSY CLINE -- The Patsy Cline Story (1963)
RAY CHARLES -- Modern Sounds In Country and Western Music Vol 1 and 2 (1962)
BILL EVANS -- Sunday At The Village Vanguard/Waltz For Debby (1961)
ELLA FITZGERALD -- The Intimate Ella (1960)
THE 1950s
MILES DAVIS -- Kind Of Blue/Workin'/Porgy and Bess (1959)
ELVIS PRESLEY -- Elvis' Golden Records Vol. 1 (1958)
LERNER AND LOEWE -- My Fair Lady Original Broadway Cast (1957)
ELLA FITZGERALD -- Sings The Cole Porter Songbook (1956)
FRANK SINATRA -- In The Wee Small Hours (1955)
DINAH WASHINGTON -- Dinah Jams (1954)
PEGGY LEE -- Black Coffee (1953)
VARIOUS ARTISTS/HARRY SMITH -- The Anthology Of American Folk Music (1952)
HANK WILLIAMS -- 40 Greatest Hits (1951)
BILLIE HOLIDAY -- The Complete Decca Recordings (1944-1950) (1950)
THE 1940s
DJANGO REINHARDT -- Djangology 49 (1949)
HANK WILLIAMS -- 40 Greatest Hits (1948)
WOODY GUTHRIE -- Songs To Grow On: Nursery Days aka For Mother And Child (1947)
BING CROSY AND THE ANDREWS SISTERS -- Their Complete Recordings Together (1939-1951) (1946)
BING CROSBY -- Merry Christmas (1945)
RODGERS AND HAMMERSTEIN -- Oklahoma! (1944)
DUKE ELLINGTON -- The Carnegie Hall Concerts: January 1943 (1943)
FRANK SINATRA AND TOMMY DORSEY-- The Song Is You! 1940-1942 on RCA Victor (1942)
DUKE ELLINGTON -- The Blanton-Webster Band (1941)
DUKE ELLINGTON -- The Blanton-Webster Band/1937-1940 on Classics Label (1940)
THE 1930s
GLENN MILLER -- The Essential Glenn Miller (1939)
BENNY GOODMAN -- Benny Goodman At Carnegie Hall (1938)
BILLIE HOLIDAY -- The Quintessential Billie Holiday Vol 3-4 1936-1937 (1937)
ROBERT JOHNSON -- King Of The Delta Blues Singers Vol. 1 (1936)
BING CROSY -- Bing Crosby: His Legendary Years (1931-1957) [Decca 1934-1954] (1935)
BING CROSY -- Bing Crosby: His Legendary Years (1931-1957) [Brunswick 1931-1934; Decca 1934-1954] (1934)
BESSIE SMITH -- The Collection (1933)
THE MILLS BROTHERS -- The 1930's Recordings (1932)
BING CROSY -- Bing Crosby: His Legendary Years (1931-1957) [Brunswick 1931-1934] (1931)
DUKE ELLINGTON -- The OKeh Ellington 1927-1930/1924-1930 on Classics Label (1930)
THE 1920s
CHARLEY PATTON -- King Of The Delta Blues (1929-1934) (1929)
MISSISSIPPI JOHN HURT -- Avalon Blues: The Complete 1928 Okeh Recordings (1928)
HENRY THOMAS -- Bull Doze Blues (1927-1929)
LOUIS ARMSTRONG -- The Complete Hot Five And Seven Recordings (1927)
LOUIS ARMSTRONG -- The Complete Hot Five And Seven Recordings (1926)
LOUIS ARMSTRONG -- The Complete Hot Five And Seven Recordings (1925)
DUKE ELLINGTON -- 1924-1930 on Classics Label (1924)
THE BEST ALBUMS OF 2016 (work in progress)
DAVID BOWIE -- Blackstar
JAMES HUNTER -- Hold On!
M WARD -- More Rain
PANIC! AT THE DISCO -- Death Of A Bachelor
DORI FREEMAN -- Dori Freeman
THE BEST ALBUMS OF 2015 (work in progress)
SUFJAN STEVENS -- Carrie and Lowell
JILL SCOTT -- Woman
KENDRICK LAMAR -- To Pimp A Butterfly
CHRIS STAPLETON -- Traveller
THE TALLEST MAN ON EARTH -- Dark Bird Is Home
COURTNEY BARNETT -- Sometimes I Just Sit And Think And Sometimes I Just Sit
TONY BENNETT AND BILL CHARLAP -- The Silver Lining: The SongsOf Jerome Kern *** 1/2
THE FRATELLIS -- Eyes Wide Tongue Tied
IRIS DEMENT -- The Trackless Woods
IKE REILLY -- Born On Fire
KAMASI WASHINGTON -- The Epic
BOZ SCAGGS -- A Fool To Care
KACEY MUSGRAVES -- Pageant Material
LIN-MANUEL MIRANDA -- Hamilton (Original Broadway Cast)
ORANGE HUMBLE BAND -- Depressing Beauty
COWBOY JUNKIES -- Notes Falling Slowly
TINARIWEN -- Live In Paris, 2014
CARRIE UNDERWOOD -- Storyteller
TAME IMPALA -- Currents
AMY LAVERE AND WILL SEXTON -- Hallelujah I'm A Dreamer
DRAKE -- If You're Reading This, It's Too Late
SARA BAREILLES -- What's Inside: Music From Waitress
JASON ISBELL -- Something More Than Free
VINCE STAPLES -- Summertime '06
VERUCA SALT -- Ghost Notes
LOS LOBOS -- Gates Of Gold
LINDI ORTEGA -- Faded Gloryville
SHAKEY GRAVES -- Nobody's Fool
STEVE EARLE -- Terraplace
FALL OUT BOY -- American Beauty/American Psycho
GARNET MIMMS -- Looking For You: The Complete United Artists and Veep Singles
PATTY GRIFFIN -- Servant Of Love
BONES -- Powder
DWIGHT YOAKAM -- Second-Hand Heart
DANIEL ROMANO -- If I've Only One Time Askin'
ADELE -- 25
THE MAVERICKS -- Mono
ANDERSON EAST -- Delilah
DON HENLEY -- Cass County
CAGE THE ELEPHANT -- Tell Me I'm Pretty
ERIC CHURCH -- Mr. Misunderstood
BOB DYLAN -- Shadows In The Night
THE BEST ALBUMS OF 2014
KAISER CHIEFS -- Education, Education, Education and War
STURGILL SIMPSON -- Metamodern Sounds In Country Music
SHARON JONES AND THE DAP KINGS -- Give The People What They Want
COURTNEY BARNETT -- Double EP: A Sea Of Spilt Peas
BONES -- Skinny and Rotten and Seabed et al
BECK -- Morning Phase
THE FEELING -- Boy Cried Wolf
AMY LAVERE -- Runaway's Diary/ BETTY BUCKLEY -- Ghostlight
BRIAN ENO AND KARL HYDE -- Someday World
BETA RADIO -- Colony Of Bees
BEN L'ONCLE SOUL -- A Coup de Reves
JIMMER PODRASKY -- The Would-Be Plans
CHUCK PROPHET -- Night Surfer
ARIANA GRANDE -- My Everything
TINARIWEN -- Emmar
THE VINES -- Wicked Nature
BENJAMIN BOOKER -- Benjamin Booker
DAMON ALBARN -- Everyday Robots
MARY J BLIGE -- The London Sessions
J COLE -- 2014 Forest Hills Drive
HURRAY FOR THE RIFF RAFF -- Small Town Heroes
ROSANNE CASH -- The River And The Thread
HAMILTON LEITHAUSER -- Dark Hours
DYLAN GARDNER -- Adventures In Real Time (tie) and
PETE MOLINARI -- Theosophy '14 (tie)
COMMON -- Nobody's Smiling
KELLY WILLIS AND BRUCE ROBISON -- Our Year
LEONARD COHEN -- Popular Problems
GREG ASHLEY -- Another Generation of Slaves
STANTON MOORE -- Conversations
THE GHOST OF A SABER TOOTH TIGER -- Midnight Sun
SKATERS -- Manhattan
TOM PETTY -- Hypnotic Eye
BEN HOWARD -- I Forget Where We Were
RUMER -- Into Colour
ROBBIE WILLIAMS -- Under The Radar, Vol. 1
JOHN HIATT -- Terms Of My Surrender
SHE AND HIM -- Classics
THE VERONICAS -- The Veronicas
OLD CROW MEDICINE SHOW -- Remedy
tUnE yArDs -- Nikki Nack
TIM MCGRAW -- Sundown Heaven Town
NEIL DIAMOND -- Melody Road (tie)
BARRY MANILOW -- Night Songs (tie)
THE LIVING SISTERS -- Harmony Is Real: Songs For A Happy Holiday
THE BEST ALBUMS OF 2013
1-10ish
JANELLE MONAE -- The Electric Lady
DAVID BOWIE -- The Next Day
PAUL MCCARTNEY -- New
FRANK TURNER -- Tape Deck Heart
BOMBINO -- Nomad
LINDA THOMPSON -- Won't Be Long Now
ARCTIC MONKEYS -- AM
VAMPIRE WEEKEND -- Modern Vampires Of The City
JAMES COTTON -- Cotton Mouth Man
KEITH JARRETT -- Somewhere
PATTY GRIFFIN -- American Kid and Silver Bell
11-20
BOB DYLAN -- Another Self Portrait
THE LONE BELLOW -- The Lone Bellow
DAFT PUNK -- Random Access Memories
LORDE -- Pure Heroin(e)
EMINEM -- The Marshall Mathers LP2
JOHN MAYER -- Paradise Valley
KELLY WILLIS AND BRUCE ROBISON -- Cheater's Game
KODALINE -- In A Perfect World
PANIC! AT THE DISCO -- Too Weird To Live, Too Rare To Die
MAVIS STAPLES -- One True Vine
21-30
THE WATERBOYS -- Fisherman Box
RICHARD THOMPSON -- Electric
RHYE -- Woman
LAURA MVULA -- Sing To The Moon
BRAD PAISLEY -- Wheelhouse
THE MAVERICKS -- In Time
RON SEXSMITH -- Forever Endeavor
KING KRULE -- 6 Feet Beneath The Moon
MIDLAKE -- Antiphon
31-40
HOLLY WILLIAMS -- The Highway
KACEY MUSGRAVES -- Same Trailer, Different Park
LITTLE GREEN CARS -- Absolute Zero
41-48
BILLIE JOE ARMSTRONG AND NORAH JONES -- Foreverly
ALICE RUSSELL -- To Dust
WILLIAM TYLER -- Impossible Truth
JASON ISBELL -- Southeastern
LINDI ORTEGA -- Tin Star
VAN DYKE PARKS -- Song Cycled
THE CIVIL WARS -- The Civil Wars
PREFAB SPROUT -- Crimson Red
VARIOUS ARTISTS -- Inside Llewyn Davis
TIM CHRISTENSEN -- Pure McCartney
THE BEST ALBUMS OF 2012
1. RUMER -- Seasons Of My Soul/Boys Don't Cry (70s pop perfection)
2. BRANFORD MARSALIS -- Four MF's Playin' Their Tunes (hard-driving jazz; faultless)
3. THE TALLEST MAN ON EARTH -- There's No Leaving Now(inspiringly good Dylanesque rock)
4. FRANK OCEAN -- Channel Orange (state of the art soul)
5. PAUL BUCHANAN -- Mid Air (emotionally intense, late night confessions)
BILL FAY -- Life Is People (age+wisdom+piano+God)
6. JOHANN JOHANNSSON -- The Miners' Hymns (the film score of the year)
7. FIONA APPLE -- The Idler Wheel Is Wiser Than The Driver Of The Screw And Whipping Cords Will Serve You More Than Ropes Will Ever Do (pop artist at peak of her powers)
8. JAMEY JOHNSON -- Living For A Dream: A Tribute To Hank Cochran (all-star country hoedown)
9. DR. JOHN -- Locked Down (triumphant New Orleans music)
10. MUMFORD AND SONS -- Babel (flowering of Americana)
THE LUMINEERS -- The Lumineers
PIGPEN THEATRE CO. -- Bremen
THE AVETT BROTHERS -- The Carpenter
11. KASEY CHAMBERS AND SHANE NICHOLSON -- Wreck And Ruin (world class folk-country-blues)
12. NAS -- Life Is Good (rap for grown ups)
13. LEONARD COHEN -- Old Ideas (magisterial pop)
14. JOSEPHINE -- Portrait (two English lasses with talent to burn)
LIANNA LA HAVAS -- Is Your Love Big Enough
15. GRANT LEE-PHILLIPS -- Walking In The Green Corn (acoustic gem)
16. ANTIBALAS -- Antibalas (Fela Kuti lives!)
17. IRIS DEMENT -- Sing The Delta (comeback of the year)
BOO HANS WITH DON FLEMONS -- Buffalo Junction
18. VIJAY AYER TRIO -- Accelerando (jazz piano)
BRAD MEHLDAU -- Where Do You Start/Ode
19. THE HIVES -- Lex Hives (rock, by god)
JAPANDROID -- Celebration Rock
THE DOUGHBOYS -- Shakin' Our Souls
20. BRUCE SPRINGSTEEN -- Wrecking Ball (life in them old dogs yet)
BOB DYLAN -- Tempest
21. CHRIS SMITHER -- Hundred Dollar Valentine (blues master)
22. DIANA KRALL -- Glad Rag Doll (digging deeper jazz talent)
23. ED SHEERAN -- + (thoughtful British pop)
24. KENDRICK LAMAR -- good kid, mA.A.d city (rap smarts)
25. MELODY GARDOT -- The Absence (singular voice heads to Brazil)
26. FATHER JOHN MISTY -- Fear Fun (Fleet Foxes redux, in a good way)
DAMIEN JURADO -- Maraqopa
LORD HURON -- Impossible Dreams
BOY AND BEAR -- Moonfire
27. THE TIME JUMPERS -- The Time Jumpers (Western swing)
28. NEIL YOUNG AND CRAZY HORSE -- Psychedelic Pill/Americana (still kicking, still stinging)
29. WILLIAM TYLER -- Impossible Truth (guitar instrumental) (officially out March 2013)
30. BETTYE LAVETTE -- Thankful N' Thoughtful (soul survivor)
31. BILLY BRAGG AND WILCO -- Mermaid Avenue Volume 3 (unexpected gem from vault)
32. MICHAEL KIWANUKA -- Home Again (70s soul circa Bill Withers)
MIGUEL -- Kaleidoscope Dream (70s soul circa Marvin Gaye)
33. REGINA SPEKTOR -- What We Saw From The Cheap Seats (quirky pop)
NORAH JONES -- Little Broken Hearts (leaving jazz behind)
34. JACK WHITE -- Blunderbuss (eclectic; electric)
35. TAME IMPALA -- Lonerism (psychedelica redefined)
36. GREEN DAY -- Uno!/Dos!/Tres! (purging punk pop)
37. BRANDI CARLILE -- Bear Creek (an indie voice in the wilderness)
38. RAVI COLTRANE -- Spirit Fiction (jazz royalty, wearing the crown well)
39. JOHN MAYER -- Born And Raised (skip the interviews, play the music)
40. PUNCH BROTHERS -- Who's Feeling Young Now?/Ahoy (bluegrass expanded)
JASON ALDEAN -- Night Train (country demanded)
DWIGHT YOAKUM -- 3 Pears (rebel remanded)
41. BRIAN ENO -- Lux (genius in solo instrumental mode)
42. BRUNO MARS -- Unorthodox Jukebox (Michael Jackson's heir apparent)
43. SUZANNE VEGA -- Close Up Vol. 4: Songs Of Family (revealing catalog)
44. JAKE BUGG -- Jake Bugg (promising UK folkie)
45. BAND OF HORSES -- Mirage Rock (career best for rockers)
46. THE MAGNETIC FIELDS -- Love At The Bottom Of The Sea (miserablist pop)
47. BRYAN FERRY -- The Jazz Age (left turn instrumentals)
48. DAVID BYRNE AND ST. VINCENT -- Love This Giant (a rock giant shows signs of life)
49. DAMON ALBARN -- Dr. Dee (pastoral concept album about English eccentric)
50. KRIS KRISTOFFERSON -- Feeling Mortal (one foot in the grave country)
THE BEST ALBUMS OF 2011
1. FLEET FOXES -- Helplessness Blues (CSN rocks out)
2. TOM WAITS -- Bad As Me (bohemian troubadour in top form)
3. KING CREOSOTE AND JON HOPKINS -- Diamond Mine (quirky concept album, gorgeously done)
4. GILLIAN WELCH -- The Harrow and the Harvest (simple, straightforward, striking folk)
5. TEDDY THOMPSON -- Bella / kd lang Sing It Loud
RON SEXSMITH -- Long Player, Late Bloomer (pure pop by pure pros)
6. WYNTON MARSALIS AND ERIC CLAPTON -- Play the Blues
BRANFORD MARSALIS AND JOEY CALDARAZZO -- Songs of Mirth and Melancholy (trad jazz)
7. GLEN CAMPBELL -- Ghost on the Canvas (haunting country pop)
8. BOMBINO -- Agadez (Tuareg rocks!)
BOUBACAR TRAORE -- Mali Denhou (gentle African guitar)
LADYSMITH BLACK MAMBAZO -- Songs From a Zulu Farm (ecstatic and playful children's music)
9. VARIOUS ARTISTS -- This May Be My Last Time Singing: Raw African American Gospel on 45 RPM (1957-1982) (lo-fi, high flying gospel that's so good you'll convert)
10. ADELE -- 21 (unstoppable soul diva)
***
11. GROUPLOVE -- Never Trust a Happy Song (raucous LA pop-rock)
12. PANIC! AT THE DISCO -- Vices and Virtues (sterling but overlooked pop-rock)
13. NICK LOWE -- The Old Magic (vintage wine, vintage bottle)
14. WILD FLAG -- Wild Flag (giving super groups a good name)
15. BRAD MEHLDAU -- Modern Music (dependably adventurous jazz trio)
COLIN VALLON -- Rruger (bold EU trio following in Mehldau's wake)
16. JAY-Z AND KANYE WEST -- Watch the Throne (braggadocio taken to new heights)
17. BON IVER -- Bon Iver (stares down success with quiet confidence)
18. BALLAKE SISSOKO AND VINCENT SEGAL -- Chamber Music (delicate instrumentals)
19. PAUL SIMON -- So Beautiful or So What (mortality, musically)
20. BETH HART AND JOE BONAMASSA -- Don't Explain (the blues, thumpingly good)
***
21. PRESERVATION HALL JAZZ BAND AND DEL MCCOURY BAND -- American Legacies (an institution finds new life via collaboration)
22. AMBROSE AKINMUSIRE -- When the Heart Emerges Glistening (quietly probing jazz)
23. JAMES BLAKE -- James Blake (trippy pop)
24. VARIOUS ARTISTS -- Live From the Old Town School (folk's beating heart)
25. GIRLS -- Father, Son, Holy Ghost (interesting identity crisis)
26. TINARIWEN -- Tassili (bluesy, distinctive, campfire sing-alongs)
27. JOY FORMIDABLE -- The Big Roar (noisy pop)
28. DARI0 MARINELLI WITH JACK LIEBECK -- Jane Eyre soundtrack (the year's best score)
MATTHEW COOPER -- Some Days Are Better Than Others (the year's best untraditional score)
29. THE CORAL -- Butterfly House
THE MAGIC NUMBERS -- Runaway (pop, unimported, unrecognized)
30. PISTOL ANNIES -- Pistol Annies
MIRANDA LAMBERT -- Four The Record (country's top gal and friends)
***
31. THE LOW ANTHEM -- Smart Flesh (brainy Americana)
32. CHARLIE HADEN AND QUARTET WEST -- Sophisticated Ladies (female singers, jazz swingers)
33. THE BLACK KEYS -- El Camino (rock, no fuss)
34. M83 -- Hurry Up, We're Dreaming (ambient pop)
35. ALISON KRAUSS AND UNION STATION -- Paper Airplanes
JOHN HIATT -- Dirty Jeans and Mudslide Hymns (old dogs, old tricks, happily so)
36. BEASTIE BOYS -- Hot Sauce Committee, Part Two (feisty hip-hop from the old-timers)
37. BEN HOWARD -- Every Kingdom (gentle pop)
MIKE BLOOM -- King Of Circles (warm singer-songwriter vibe for this solo debut)
38. VINICIUS CANTUARIA AND BILL FRISELL -- Lagrimas Mexicanas (two great guitars, one great voice equal haunting Latin music)/
39. THE GOURDS -- Old Mad Joy (rootsy celebration)
MARC BROUSSARD -- Marc Broussard (bluesy rock)
40. SUZANNE VEGA -- Close-Up Volume 3: State Of Being (acoustic songs, electric songwriting)
***
41. VARIOUS ARTISTS -- Those Shocking, Shaking Days: Indonesia Hard, Psychedelic, Progressive Rock and Funk (1970-1978) (rock and roll knows no borders)
42. VARIOUS ARTISTS -- The Book of Mormon Original Cast Album (religiously funny)
43. DRAKE -- Take Care (emo-rap)
SHABAZZ PALACES -- Black Up
44. BRAD PAISLEY -- This Is Country Music (yes it is)
STEVE EARLE -- I'll Never Get Out Of This World Alive (determined, focused country)
45. MEGAFAUN -- Megafaun ('70s-ish rock)
46. FATOUMATA DIAWARA -- Fatou (Malian guitar talent combined with impeccable vocals) KHAIRA ARBY -- Timbukto Traab (country to Diawara's city sound; not locale so much as the gritty, rawer feel)
47. HOUSTON PERSON -- So Nice (late period capper for understated jazz blower)
48. REAL ESTATE -- Days -- (shimmering indie pop)
49. EILEEEN JEWELL -- Queen of the Minor Key (sneakily impressive)
50. FRANK OCEAN -- nostalgia/ultra (backward/forward looking moody pop)
THE BEST ALBUMS OF 2010
1. THE TALLEST MAN ON EARTH -- The Wild Hunt/Sometimes The Blues Is Just A Passing Bird (Dylanesque folk-rock)
2. PETER WOLF -- Midnight Souvenirs (raucous career peak)
3. ALI FARKA TOURE AND TOUMANI DIABTE -- Ali And Toumani (transcendent world music)
4. ARCADE FIRE -- The Suburbs (state of the art rock)
5. JANELLE MONAE -- The ArchAndroid
ERYKAH BADU -- New Amerykah Part Two: Return of The Ankh (Prince-like funky soul pop craziness)
6. BUDDY GUY -- Living Proof (ferocious blues)
7. EMINEM -- Recovery
KANYE WEST -- My Beautiful Dark Twisted Fantasy (rap comebacks)
8. JOHN GRANT -- Queen Of Denmark
MIDLAKE -- The Courage Of Others (gorgeous rock; British folk)
9. KEITH JARRETT AND CHARLIE HADEN -- Jasmine (sublime, beautiful jazz)
10. MUMFORD AND SONS -- Sigh No More (literate rock)
***
11. SHARON JONES AND THE DAP KINGS -- I Learned The Hard Way (soul -- not retro, just timeless)
12. SUFJAN STEVENS -- All Delighted People EP (nutty rock)
13. ROBERT PLANT -- Band Of Joy (folk-rock, Fairport Convention via Nashville)
14. VARIOUS ARTISTS -- Afrocubism (Buena Vista Social Club spliced with Malian pop)
15. MY CHEMICAL ROMANCE -- Danger Days (anthemic rock)
16. TRACEY THORN -- Love and Its Opposite (adult pop)
17. PRESERVATION HALL JAZZ BAND -- Preservation (an all-star album that actually works)
18. BRUNO MARS -- Doo-Wops And Hooligans
ROBYN -- Body Talk (irresistible pop)
19. GORILLAZ -- Plastic Beach (genre-jumping rock)
20. NEIL YOUNG -- Le Noise (stomping folk)
***
21. CAROLINA CHOCOLATE DROPS -- Genuine Negro Jigs (trad, modern, country, folk, blues, unclassifiable)
22. ELIZABETH AND THE CATAPULTS -- Other Side Of Zero (promising debut)
23. BEACH HOUSE -- Teen Dreams (alterna-pop)
24. JAMEY JOHNSON -- The Guitar Song (no fuss country)
25. BEST COAST -- Crazy For You (lo-fi Beach Boys pop)
26. BRENDAN JAMES -- Brendan James (a career peak)
27. THE BLACK KEYS -- Brothers (smart rock)
28. HOLE -- Nobody's Daughter (Courtney Love doesn't get any respect but deserves it)
29. CYRUS CHESNUTT - Journeys (trad jazz done with class)
30. SADE -- Soldier Of Love (smooth pop, never misses a beat)
***
31. VARIOUS ARTISTS -- Classic Appalachian Blues (a rich vein of folk blues)
32. THE NATIONAL -- High Violet (moody rock sounds more like the Swans every day)
33. THE ROOTS -- How I Got Over (hip-hop for adults)
34. SUZANNE VEGA -- Close Up Vol 1: Love Songs (folk-pop)
35. ELTON JOHN AND LEON RUSSELL -- The Union (old friends, strong new music)
36. SHE AND HIM -- Volume 2 (girl group pop)
37. FOXES IN FICTION -- Swung From The Branches (swirly, headphone rock)
38. LIL BAND O' GOLD -- Lil Band O' Gold (New Orleans gem)
39. ELIZABETH MITCHELL -- Sunny Day (infectious kids' music)
40. LIONEL LUEKE -- Mwaliko (sophisticated jazz)
***
41. TOM JONES -- Praise And Blame (joyful gospel)
42. WILLIAM TYLER -- Behold The Spirit (terrific instrumental a la Fahey)
43. VARIOUS ARTISTS -- The Sound of Siam (eye-opening Asian pop)
44. VAMPIRE WEEKEND -- Contra (world pop)
TWO DOOR CINEMA CLUB -- Tourist History (if Vampire Weekend had a kid brother)
45. ELVIS COSTELLO -- National Ransom (rootsy rock from the genre-hopping savant)
46. 3 FERVENT TRAVELERS -- Time For Three (bluegrass taken out of the museum)
47. CORINNE BAILEY RAE -- The Sea (dark, vulnerable pop)
48. MEAGHAN SMITH -- The Cricket's Orchestra (refined pop)
49. DENNIS BROWN -- The Crown Prince Of Reggae: Singles 1972-1985 (incomplete but still great anthology)
50. CASSANDRA WILSON -- Silver Pony (jazz vocals, classy)
BRIAN ENO -- Small Craft On A Milk Sea (electronic noodling)
THE BEST ALBUMS OF 2009
1. THE AVETT BROTHERS -- I And Love And You (Americana)
REGINA SPEKTOR -- Far (quirky pop via Russian kitsch)
2. ELLA FITZGERALD -- Twelve Nights In Hollywood (swinging jazz vocalese)
KEITH JARRETT -- Somewhere
3. MAXWELL -- BLACKsummers'night (Seventies soul)
4. WILLIE NELSON -- American Classic (Stardust II)
ROSANNE CASH -- The List (the Great American Songbook, country style)
5. MADELEINE PEYROUX -- Bare Bones
MELODY GARDOT -- My One And Only Thrill
KRISTINA TRAIN -- Spilt Milk (songbirds, via Paris and Memphis)
6. MARK OLSON AND GARY LOURIS -- Ready For The Flood (Jayhawks redux)
7. MAYER HAWTHORNE -- A Strange Arrangement (blue eyed soul)
8. LOUDON WAINWRIGHT -- High, Wide And Handsome: The Charlie Poole Project (hilarious, heartfelt blues)
9. THE XX -- The XX (boy-girl dynamics)
GIRLS -- Album (quietly ambitious rock)
10. DUNCAN SHEIK -- Whisper House (the real twilight soundtrack)
***
11. NELLIE MCKAY -- Normal As Blueberry Pie: A Tribute To Doris Day (effortless old-fashioned pop)
12. THE BLACK CROWES -- Before The Frost...Until The Freeze (roots rock enlivened by a live audience)
13. BRAD PAISLEY -- American Saturday Night (country with a dash of humor)
14. ALLEN TOUSSAINT -- The Bright Mississippi (casual jazz brilliance)
15. PEARL JAM -- Backspacer (the sound of veterans waking up)
GREEN DAY -- 21st Century Breakdown (worthy successor to American Idiot; really)
16. BASSEKOU KOUYATE -- I Speak Fula
VIEUX FARKA TOURE -- Fondo (world class world music)
17. CONOR OBERST AND THE MYSTIC VALLEY BAND -- Outer South (Americana)
ELLIOTT BROOD -- Mountain Meadows (Canadiana)
LOW ANTHEM -- Oh My God, Charlie Darwin (evolutiona)
18. ALICIA KEYS -- The Element Of Freedom (tougher beats; same talent)
19. M WARD -- Hold Time (faithful pop)
20. RZA -- Afro Samurai: Resurrection
RAEKWON -- Only Built For Cuban Linx...Part II (keeping the lights on for hip-hop)
***
21. JAMES HAND -- Shadow On The Ground (honky-tonk to its bone)
22. MONSTERS OF FOLK -- Monsters Of Folk (a super supergroup)
23. BRENDAN BENSON -- My Old, Familiar Friend (power pop)
24. VARIOUS ARTISTS -- Ghana Special: Modern Highlife, Afro Sounds AND Ghanaian Blues 1968-1981 (Soundways, the world music label du jour, delivers again)
25. MATTHEW SWEET AND SUSANNA HOFFS -- Under The Covers Vol. 2 (Seventies power pop done to perfection)
26. MIRANDA LAMBERT -- Revolution (a Nashville star)
CLAIRE LYNCH -- Whatcha Gonna Do (bluegrass heaven)
27. PHOENIX -- Wolfgang Amadeus Phoenix (college rock, but still good)
28. SUFJAN STEVENS AND OSSO -- Run Rabbit Run (instrumentals a la Glass)
29. ST. VINCENT -- Actor (quiet/loud/quiet/strange)
30. JAY-Z -- The Blueprint 3 (luxury hip hop)
***
31. JESSE WINCHESTER -- Love Filling Station (journeyman troubadour delivers)
32. PREFAB SPROUT -- Let's Change The World With Music (lost in the vaults gem)
33. GERAINT WATKINS -- In A Bad Mood (Randy Newman and Tom Waits' love child)
34. ELVIS COSTELLO -- Secret, Profane And Sugarcane (elder statesman can still deliver)
35. CHIP TAYLOR -- Yonkers NY (story-song oddity)
36. TORI AMOS -- Midwinter Graces (a holiday album for the ages)
37. DIANA KRALL -- Quiet Nights (Elvis's better half delivers again)
38. THE BLACK HOLLIES -- Softly, Towards The Light (psychedelic nuggets)
39. MIKA -- The Boy Who Knew Too Much (pure pop, with swagger)
40. RICKIE LEE JONES -- Balm In Gilead (return to form)
THE BEST ALBUMS OF 2008
1. WILLIE NELSON AND WYNTON MARSALIS -- Two Men With The Blues
WYNTON MARSALIS -- Standards and Ballads
2. FLEET FOXES -- Fleet Foxes
PETER BRODERICK -- Home
3. MAVIS STAPLES -- Live: Hope At The Holdout
4. TEDDY THOMPSON -- A Piece Of What You Need
kd lang -- Watershed
5. DEL MCCOURY BAND AND VARIOUS ARTISTS -- Moneyland
6. VARIOUS ARTISTS -- Nigeria Special: Modern Highlife, Afro-Sounds And Nigerian Blues 1970-1976
VARIOUS ARTISTS -- Nigeria Disco Funk Special: The Sounds Of The Underground Lagos Dancefloor 1974-1979
7. KAISER CHIEFS -- Off With Their Heads
THE LAST SHADOW PUPPETS -- The Age Of The Understatement
8. BOZ SCAGGS -- Speak Low
9. ERYKAH BADU -- New Amerykah (4th World War) Part One
10. BON IVER -- For Emma, Forever Ago
BON IVER -- Blood Bank
***
11. B.B. KING -- One Kind Favor
12. Q-TIP -- The Renaissance
NAS -- Nas
13. PAUL WELLER -- 22 Dreams
14. JENNY LEWIS -- Acid Tongue
15. SAM ROBERTS -- Love At The End Of The World
16. KASEY CHAMBERS AND SHANE NICHOLSON -- Rattlin' Bones
17. SHE AND HIM -- Volume One
18. VARIOUS ARTISTS -- New Orleans Funk Volume 2
19. NEIL DIAMOND -- Home Before Dark
JOAN BAEZ -- Day After Tomorrow
20. SANTOGOLD -- Santogold
***
21. SONNY ROLLINS -- Road Show Vol. 1
22. SOUTSIDE JOHNNY WITH LABAMBA'S BIG BAND -- Grapefruit Moon: The Songs Of Tom Waits
23. THE FRATELLIS -- Here We Stand
24. INARA GEORGE -- An Invitation with Van Dyke Parks
25. AL GREEN -- Lay It Down
26. LIONEL LOUKE -- Karibu
27. THE GASLIGHT ANTHEM -- The '59 Sound
28. CHARLIE HADEN -- Family And Friends: Rambling Boy
29. JAMES HUNTER -- The Hard Way
30. MARTHA WAINWRIGHT -- I Know You're Married But I've Got Feelings Too
***
31. RICKY IAN GORDON AND MICHAEL KORIE -- The Grapes Of Wrath
32. VAMPIRE WEEKEND -- Vampire Weekend
33. OTIS TAYLOR -- Recapturing The Banjo
34. THE MAGNETIC FIELDS -- Distortion
35. SHELBY LYNNE -- Just A Little Lovin'
36. BLACK MOUNTAIN -- In The Future
37. VARIOUS ARTISTS -- The George Mitchell Collection Volumes 1-45
38. BILL HENDERSON -- Live At The Vic
CASSANDRA WILSON -- Loverly
39. AIMEE MANN -- @#%&*! Smilers
40. JONAS BROTHERS -- A Little Bit Longer
***
41. THE CURE -- 4:13 Dream
42. DAVID BYRNE AND BRIAN ENO -- Everything That Happens Will Happen Today
DAVID BYRNE -- Big Love: Hymnal
43. CONO OBERST -- Conor Oberst
44. NICK CAVE -- Dig Lazarus Dig!!!
SIGUR ROS -- Med Sud I Eyrum Vid Spilum Endalaust
RON SEXSMITH -- Exit Strategy Of The Soul
45. ELBOW -- The Seldom Seen Kid
46. THE REAL TUESDAY WELD -- The End Of The World (Live)
47. THE RACONTUERS-- Consolers Of The Lonely
48. ANTONY AND THE JOHNSONS -- Another World EP
49. SUGARLAND -- Love On The Inside
JAMEY JOHNSON -- That Lonesome Song
50. DANIELA COTTON -- Rare Child
THE WHIGS -- Mission Control
CORY CHISEL AND THE WANDERING SONS -- Cabin Ghosts
THE BEST ALBUMS OF 2007
1. SHARON JONES AND THE DAP-KINGS -- 100 Days 100 Nights (classic soul)
VARIOUS ARTISTS -- The Great Debaters Soundtrack (juke joint music)
2. AMY WINEHOUSE -- Back To Black (bruised retro soul)
3. RADIOHEAD -- In Rainbows (the world-conquering pop they were born to make)
4. TINARIWEN -- Aman Iman: Water Is Life (desert rock)
5. ROBERT PLANT AND ALISON KRAUSS -- Raising Sand (adult pop)
6. THE WHITE STRIPES -- Icky Thump (bluesy, stomping rock n roll)
7. TERENCE BLANCHARD -- A Tale of God's Will (a requiem for Katrina) (melancholic jazz
JONNY GREENWOOD -- There Will Be Blood (spooky, spine-tingling score)
8. PATTY GRIFFIN -- Children Running Through (career-capping Americana)
9. STEVE EARLE -- Washington Square Serenade
SUZANNE VEGA -- Beauty and Crimes (country and folk pop triumphs both, but don't call it a comeback)
10. JAMIE T -- Panic Prevention
LIVESAVAS - Gutterfly (Brit rap; Seventies funk fantasia)
***
11. ARCADE FIRE -- Neon Bible (art rock a la Talking Heads)
12. ANDY BEY -- Ain't Necessarily So (searching jazz vocals)
13. FOUNTAINS OF WAYNE -- Traffic and Weather (pure pop)
RON SEXSMITH -- Time Being (purer pop)
14. TABU LEY ROCHEREAU -- The Voice Of Lightness (floating, Al Green-like world music)
15. THE FEELING -- Twelve Stops and Home (Seventies AM radio)
THE FRATELLIS -- Costello Music (raucous rock)
16. TEDDY THOMPSON -- Upfront and Down Low (dignified country classics)
RICHARD THOMPSON -- Sweet Warrior (sterling rock)
LINDA THOMPSON -- Versatile Heart (delicate folk pop)
17. BASSEKOU KUYATE AND NGONI BA -- Segu Blue (irresistible world music for people mourning Ali Farka)
18. HERBIE HANCOCK -- River: The Joni Letters (Mitchell done proud via jazz))
19. WILLIE NELSON, MERLE HAGGARD, RAY PRICE -- Last Of The Breed (country summit) LEVON HELM -- Dirt Farmer (Lazarus-like revival)
PORTER WAGONER -- Wagonmaster (classy send-off)
20. ARCTIC MONKEYS -- Favourite Worst Nightmare (jagged Brit pop)
KAISER CHIEFS -- Yours Truly, Angry Mob (spiky but smooth Brit pop)
***
21. VARIOUS ARTISTS -- The Roots Of Chica - Psychedelic Cumbias From Peru (garage rock via South America)
22. COMMON -- Finding Forever (rap for adults)
23. STEPHEN FRETWELL -- Man On The Roof (unheralded UK folk-pop)
24. BETTYE LAVETTE -- The Scene Of The Crime (steeped in wisdom soul)
MARY WEISS -- Dangerous Game (old school pop, happily)
25. JOSH RITTER -- The Historical Conquests Of Josh Ritter (literate folk pop with a smile)
26. ANDY PALACIO AND THE GARIFUNA COLLECTIVE -- Watina
PUERTO PLATA -- Mujer de Cabaret (both beautiful, vanishing traditions)
27. THE HIVES -- The Black and White Album (confident, swaggering rock)
28. DAVID BROMBERG -- Try Me One More Time
JOHN HAMMOND -- Push Comes To Shove (grizzled old white man blues)
WATERMELON SLIM AND THE WORKERS - The Wheel Man (the blues, you fool)
29. ROBERT WYATT -- Comicopera (eccentric pop-jazz thingamajig)
30. THE REAL TUESDAY WELD -- The London Book Of The Dead (sneakily ambitious retro pop)
***
31. JOAN ARMATRADING -- Into The Blues (do call it a comeback)
32. THE MAGIC NUMBERS -- Those The Brokes (disappointing but good)
DARREN HAYES -- This Delicate Thing We've Made (good but disappointing)
33. BRUCE SPRINGSTEEN WITH THE SESSIONS BAND -- Live In Dublin (party in the barn music)
34. NICOLE ATKINS -- Neptune City (brooding, Orbison-like pop)
35. SERGIO AND ODAIR ASSAD -- Jardim Abandonado (telepathic classical guitar)
36. RAUL MALO -- After Hours (countrypolitan with velvet vocals)
37. VARIOUS ARTISTS -- Company Original Broadway Cast (2007) (Sondheim, passionately)
38. KELLY WILLIS -- Translated From Love (country, smartly)
39. PANDA BEAR -- Person Pitch (Brian Wilson on LSD, if that's not redundant)
40. OVER THE RHINE -- Snow Angels (Christmas rock for NPR listeners)
***
41. JENS LEKMAN -- Night Falls Over Kortedala (Magentic Fields via Sweden)
42. IAN HUNTER -- Shrunken Heads (cock rock)
43. BEIRUT -- The Flying Cup Club
44. JUANES -- La Vida (fist-shaking rock)
45. THE HOLMES BROTHERS -- State of Grace (master class in the blues)
46. GLEN HANSARD AND MARKETA IRGLOVA -- The Swell Season (you know, those great songs from the movie Once)
47. RYAN ADAMS AND THE CARDINALS -- Follow The Lights (Americana, again)
48. JOHN CORIGLIANO -- Music For String Quartet (American classical)
49. DEE DEE BRIDGEWATER -- Red Earth: A Malian Journey (jazz meets Mali)
ABBEY LINCOLN -- Abbey Sings Abbey (astringent jazz)
50. THE DONNAS -- Bitchin' (dumb, fun as hell Eighties rock)
THE BEST ALBUMS OF 2006
1. BOB DYLAN -- Modern Times
2. CORINNE BAILEY RAE -- Corinne Bailey Rae (tie)
JAMES HUNTER -- People Gonna Talk (tie)
3. MY CHEMICAL ROMANCE -- The Black Parade
4. ARCTIC MONKEYS -- Whatever People Say I Am, That's What I'm Not
5. MIDLAKE -- The Trials of Van Occupanther
6. ROSEANNE CASH -- Black Cadillac (tie)
JOHNNY CASH -- American V: A Hundred Highways
7. MAX RICHTER -- Songs From Before
8. CAT POWER -- The Greatest
9. BRUCE SPRINGSTEEN -- We Shall Overcome: The Seeger Sessions -- American Land Edition
SOLOMON BURKE -- Nashville
RICHARD THOMPSON -- 1000 Years of Popular Music
10. DRAKE BELL -- It's Only Time
***
11. The LA'S -- BBC In Session
12. CANDI STATON -- His Hands (tie)
CANDI STATON -- The Ultimate Gospel Collection
13. DUNCAN SHEIK -- White Limousine (tie)
VARIOUS ARTISTS -- Spring Awakening Original Cast Recording
14. HOWARD TATE -- A Portrait Of Howard
15. VARIOUS ARTISTS -- Tropicalia: A Brazilian Revolution In Sound
16. M. WARD -- Post-War
17. REGINA SPEKTOR -- Begin To Hope
18. TEDDY THOMPSON -- Separate Ways (tie)
THE STROKES -- First Impressions Of Earth
19. TOUMANI DIANATE'S SYMMETRIC ORCHESTRA -- Boulevard De L'Independance
20. MUSE -- Black Holes and Revelations
***
21. ALI FARKA TOURE -- Savane
22. THE STREETS -- The Hardest Way To Make An Easy Living
23. JAMES HAND -- The Truth Will Set You Free
24. IRMA THOMAS -- After The Rain
25. VARIOUS ARTISTS -- The Rough Guide To Latin-Arabia
26. VETIVER -- To Find Me Gone
27. CASSANDRA WILSON -- Thunderbird
28. VARIOUS ARTISTS -- Grey Gardens Original Cast Recording
29. THE RACONTEURS -- Broken Boy Soldiers
30. LARRY LEVAN -- Journey Into Paradise...The Larry Levan Story
***
31. VARIOUS ARTISTS -- Billy Elliot Original Cast Recording
32. RAHIM ALHAJ -- When The Soul Is Settled: Music Of Iraq
33. WOLFMOTHER -- Wolfmother
34. SMOKEY ROBINSON -- Timeless Love
35. CAST KING -- Saw Mill Man
36. LUPE FIASCO -- Food And Liquor (tie)
THE ROOTS -- Game Theory
37. JOSH RITTER -- The Animal Years
38. MANA -- Amar Es Combatir
39. STEPHEN SONDHEIM/VARIOUS ARTISTS -- Sweeney Todd Original Cast Recording
STEPHEN SONDHEIM/VARIOUS ARTISTS -- Sunday In The Park With George 2006 London Cast Recording
40. MATTHEW SWEET AND SUSANNA HOFFS -- Under The Covers Vol. 1
***
41. DIXIE CHICKS -- Taking The Long Way
42. ELVIS COSTELLO AND ALLEN TOUSSAINT -- The River In Reverse
43. THE FRATELLIS -- Costello Music
44. THE VINES -- Vision Valley
45. VARIOUS ARTISTS -- Leonard Cohen: I'm Your Man Motion Picture Soundtrack
46. LINDA RONSTADT AND ANN SAVOY-- Adieu False Heart
47. JUSTIN TIMBERLAKE -- Futuresex/LoveSounds
48. PAUL SIMON -- Surprise
49. BEIRUT -- Gulag Orkestar
50. NELLIE MCKAY -- Pretty Little Head
THE BEST ALBUMS OF 2005
1. SUFJAN STEVENS – Illinois (eclectic pop)
2. RICHARD SWIFT – The Richard Swift Collection, Volume One (literate pop)
3. THE EELS – Blinking Lights and Other Revelations (suicidal pop)
4. AMADOU AND MARIAM – Dimanche a Bamako (world pop)
5. BETTYE LAVETTE – I’ve Got My Own Hell To Raise
VARIOUS ARTISTS – I Believe To My Soul (soul)
6. THE WHITE STRIPES – Get Behind Me Satan (bluesy pop)
BRIGHT EYES – I’m Wide Awake, It’s Morning (folkie pop)
KAISER CHIEFS -- Employment (righteous rock)
7. NEIL DIAMOND – 12 Songs (pop via Brill Building)
8. HANNA MCEUEN -- Hanna McEuen (country by way of Everly Brothers)
9. THE MAGIC NUMBERS – The Magic Numbers (60s pop via UK)
PAUL MCCARTNEY -- Chaos and Creation In The Backyard (Beatles-esque, surprisingly)
10. VARIOUS ARTISTS – Does Anybody Know I’m Here? Vietnam Through The Eyes of Black America (protest pop)
VARIOUS ARTISTS -- Night Train To Nashville: Music City Rhythm And Blues 1945-1970 Vol. Two
***
11. WOLF PARADE – Apologies to the Queen Mary
CLAP YOUR HANDS, SAY YEAH -- Clap Your Hands, Say Yeah
BROKEN SOCIAL SCENE -- Broken Social Scene
MARAH – If You Didn’t Laugh, You’d Cry (return of Talking Heads)
12. BILL CHARLAP AND SANDY STEWART – Love Is Here To Stay (telepathic jazz duets)
13. LEWIS TAYLOR – Stoned (what Prince and Stevie Wonder used to be)
14. ALI FARKA TOURE AND TOUMANI DIABATE – In The Heart Of The Moon (world music)
15. FIONA APPLE – Extraordinary Machine (pop, the hard way)
16. HEARTLESS BASTARDS – Stairs and Elevators (rock n roll)
17. VARIOUS ARTISTS – Son Cubano NYC: Cuban Roots, New York Spices 1972-82 (salsa)
18. HARD-FI – Stars Of CCTV (British rock)
19. NEIL YOUNG – Prairie Wind (folk rock staring death in the face and smiling)
20. SUPERGRASS – Road To Rouen (under-appreciated rock)
THE BEST ALBUMS OF 2004
GREEN DAY -- American Idiot
JOHNNY CASH -- My Mother's Hymn Book
kd lang -- Hymns Of The 49th Parallel
BRIAN WILSON -- Brian Wilson Presents Smile
AMADOU AND MARIAM -- Dimanche a Bamako
MAX RICHTER -- The Blue Notebooks
VARIOUS ARTISTS -- Night Train To Nashville: Music City Rhythm And Blues 1945-1970
NORAH JONES -- Feels Like Home
LEONARD COHEN -- Dear Heather
MORRISSEY -- You Are The Quarry
THE ROOTS -- The Tipping Point
LORETTA LYNNE -- Van Lear Rose
ANDY BEY -- American Song
THE STREETS -- A Grand Don't Come For Free
KONONO NO. 1 -- Congotronics
THE MAGNETIC FIELDS -- i
ELTON JOHN -- Peachtree Road
KANYE WEST -- College Dropout
WILCO -- A Ghost Is Born
THE BEST ALBUMS OF 2003
THE WHITE STRIPES -- Elephant
JOHNNY CASH -- Unearthed
RUFUS WAINWRIGHT -- Want One
BOZ SCAGGS -- But Beautiful
OUTKAST -- Speakerboxxx/The Love Below
VARIOUS ARTISTS -- Avenue Q (Original Cast Recording)
AMY WINEHOUSE -- Frank
FOUNTAINS OF WAYNE -- Welcome Interstate Managers
EMMYLOU HARRIS -- Stumble Into Grace
THE STROKES -- Room On Fire
THE JAYHAWKS -- Rainy Day Music
MARIA MCKEE -- High Dive
JOE JACKSON -- Volume 4
ALICIA KEYS -- The Diary Of Alicia Keys
SUFJAN STEVENS -- Michigan
JUNE CARTER CASH -- Wildwood Flower
THE BEST ALBUMS OF 2002
NORAH JONES -- Come Away With Me
WILCO -- Yankee Hotel Foxtrot
ORCHESTRA BAOBAB -- Specialist In All Styles
BRIGHT EYES -- Lifted or The Story Is In The Soil Keep Your Ear To The Ground
VARIOUS ARTISTS -- Music from The Singing Detective And More
BECK -- Sea Change
DIXIE CHICKS -- Home
LINDA THOMPSON -- Fashionably Late
SOLOMON BURKE -- Don't Give Up On Me
PETER WOLF -- Sleepless
JOHNNY CASH -- American IV: The Man Comes Around
EMINEM -- The Eminem Show
YOUSSOU N'DOUR -- Nothing's In Vain
RON SEXSMITH -- Cobblestone
TOM WAITS -- Alice/Blood Money
NITTY GRITTY DIRT BAND/VARIOUS ARTISTS -- Will The Circle Be Unbroken Vol. III
DAMON ALBARN -- Mali Music
SUPER FURRY ANIMALS -- Rings Around The World
COLDPLAY -- A Rush of Blood To The Head
THE ROOTS -- Phrenology
LINDA LEWIS -- Reach For The Truth: Best Of The Reprise Years 1971-1974)
VARIOUS ARTISTS -- Hairspray (Original Cast Recording)
THE VINES -- Highly Evolved
STEVE EARLE -- Jerusalem
THE STREETS -- Original Pirate Material
PHILIP GLASS -- The Hours
RUFUS WAINWRIGHT -- Poses
WEEZER -- Maladroit
THE BEST ALBUMS OF 2001
MANU CHAO -- Proxima Estacion: Esperanza
RYAN ADAMS -- Gold
BOB DYLAN -- Love And Theft
THE STROKES -- Is This It?
kd lang and TONY BENNETT -- A Wonderful World
RADIOHEAD -- Amnesiac
LEONARD COHEN -- Ten New Songs
SUZANNE VEGA -- Songs In Red And Gray
DOLLY PARTON -- Little Sparrow
THE WHITE STRIPES -- White Blood Cells
DIANA KRALL -- The Look Of Love
VARIOUS ARTISTS -- Nuggets II: Original Artyfacts From The British Empire And Beyond
MERLE HAGGARD -- Roots
WEEZER -- Weezer (The Green Album)
RON SEXSMITH -- Blue Boy
GILLIAN WELCH -- Time (The Revelator)
ELTON JOHN -- Songs From The West Coast
NEIL DIAMOND -- Three Chord Opera
HARRY CONNICK JR. -- 30
BEN FOLDS -- Rockin' The Suburbs
THE BEST ALBUMS OF 2000
EMINEM -- The Marshall Mathers LP
RYAN ADAMS -- Heartbreaker
RADIOHEAD -- Kid A
JONI MITCHELL -- Both Sides Now
OUTKAST -- Stankonia
JOHNNY CASH -- American III: Solitary Man
THE BEATLES -- 1
VARIOUS ARTISTS -- O Brother, Where Art Thou?
SHELBY LYNNE -- I Am Shelby Lynne
D'ANGELO -- Voodoo
AIMEE MANN -- Bachelor No. 2
BILLY BRAGG AND WILCO -- Mermaid Avenue Vol. II
VARIOUS ARTISTS -- The Wild Party (Original Broadway Cast Recording)
THE JAYHAWKS -- Smile
MERLE HAGGARD -- If I Could Only Fly
NEIL YOUNG -- Silver and Gold
VARIOUS ARTISTS -- Kings Of The Gospel Highway: The Golden Age Of Gospel Quartets
ELVIS PRESLEY -- Peace In The Valley: The Complete Gospel Recordings
TEDDY THOMPSON -- Teddy Thompson
THE BEST ALBUMS OF 1999
DAVID GRAY -- White Ladder
LINDA RONSTADT AND EMMYLOU HARRIS -- Western Wall
THE MAGNETIC FIELDS -- 69 Love Songs
MOBY -- Play
THE ROOTS -- Things Fall Apart
STEVE EARLE AND THE DEL MCCOURY BAND -- The Mountain
EMINEM -- The Slim Shady LP
JOHN CAMERON MITCHELL -- Hedwig and the Angry Inch
DOLLY PARTON, LINDA RONSTADT, EMMYLOU HARRIS -- Trio II
TOM WAITS -- Mule Varaiations
FOUNTAINS OF WAYNE -- Utopia Parkway
FIONA APPLE -- When The Pawn...
RICHARD THOMPSON -- Mock Tudor
DIXIE CHICKS -- Fly
MESHELL NDEGEOCELLO -- Bitter
WILCO -- Summerteeth
DOLLY PARTON -- The Grass is Blue
THE BEST ALBUMS OF 1998
BILLY BRAGG AND WILCO -- Mermaid Avenue
LUCINDA WILLIAMS -- Car Wheels On A Gravel Road
THE BETA BAND -- The Three E.p.'s
BOB DYLAN -- The Bootleg Series Vol. 4, Bob Dylan Live 1966, The "Royal Albert Hall" Concert
BEASTIE BOYS -- Hello Nasty
THE MAVERICKS -- Trampoline
OUTKAST -- Aquemini
VARIOUS ARTISTS -- Nuggets: Original Artyfacts From The First Psychedelic Era 1965-1968 (boxed set)
ELVIS COSTELLO -- Painted From Memory
DIXIE CHICKS -- Wide Open Spaces
RUFUS WAINWRIGHT -- Rufus Wainwright
AIR -- Moon Safari
MANU CHAO -- Clandestino
DAVID GRAY -- Lost Songs 95-98
SMOKEY ROBINSON AND THE MIRACLES -- The Ultimate Collection
BELLE AND SEBASTIAN -- The Boy With The Arab Strap
KATE AND ANNA MCGARRIGLE -- The McGarrigle Hour
EVA CASSIDY -- Songbird
LAURYN HILL -- The Miseducation Of Lauryn Hill
THE BEST ALBUMS OF 1997
RADIOHEAD -- O.K. Computer
BOB DYLAN -- Time Out Of Mind
BUENA VISTA SOCIAL CLUB -- Buena Vista Social Club
DOLLY PARTON -- The Essential Dolly Parton, Vol. 2
THE NOTORIOUS B.I.G. -- Life After Death
SUPERGRASS -- In It For The Money
VARIOUS ARTISTS -- Beg, Scream and Shout! The Big Ol' Box of 60s Soul
WHISKEYTOWN -- Strangers Almanac
ALISON KRAUSS -- So Long So Wrong
RAY CHARLES -- Genius and Soul: The 50th Anniversary Collection
ADAM GUETTEL -- Floyd Collins
NICK CAVE -- The Boatman's Call
SINEAD O'CONNOR -- Gospel Oak EP
MISSISSIPPI JOHN HURT -- Legend
STEVE EARLE -- El Corazon
PREFAB SPROUT -- Andromeda Heights
THE BEST ALBUMS OF 1996
BECK -- Odelay
RADIOHEAD -- The Bends
SUZANNE VEGA -- Nine Objects Of Desire
WILCO -- Being There
JOHNNY CASH -- Unchained
WEEZER -- Pinkerton
BELLE AND SEBASTIAN -- Tigermilk/If You're Feeling Sinister
NICK CAVE -- Murder Ballads
KATE AND ANNA MCGARRIGLE -- Matapedia
STEVE EARLE -- I Feel Alright
MARIA MCKEE -- Life Is Sweet
PHILIP GLASS -- The Secret Agent
MAXWELL -- Maxwell's Urban Hang Suite
EVERYTHING BUT THE GIRL -- Walking Wounded
VARIOUS ARTISTS -- The Doo Wop Box II
THE BLUE NILE -- Peace At Last
THE FUGEES -- The Score
BOZ SCAGGS -- Fade Into Light
THE BEST ALBUMS OF 1995
THE MAVERICKS -- Music For All Occasions
ALISON KRAUSS -- Now That I've Found You: A Collection
ELVIS PRESLEY -- Walk A Mile In My Shoes: The Essential '70s Masters
PJ HARVEY -- To Bring You My Love
OASIS -- (What's The Story) Morning Glory
THE JAYHAWKS -- Tomorrow The Green Grass
BLUR -- The Great Escape
D'ANGELO -- Brown Sugar
VARIOUS ARTISTS -- Thunder Before Dawn: The Indestructible Beat Of Soweto Volume Two/The Indestructible Beat Of Soweto Volume Three: Freedom Fire
RON SEXSMITH -- Ron Sexsmith
BJORK -- Post
STEVE EARLE -- Train A Comin'
EMMYLOU HARRIS -- Wreckin' Ball
CHRIS ISAAK -- Forever Blue
BOB MARLEY AND THE WAILERS -- Natural Mystic: The Legend Lives On
ALANIS MORISSETTE -- Jagged Little Pill
DWIGHT YOAKUM -- Gone
CASSANDRA WILSON -- New Moon Daughter
PAUL WELLER -- Stanley Road
SUPERGRASS -- I Should Coco
AIMEE MANN -- I'm With Stupid
THE BEAUTIFUL SOUTH -- Carry On...Up The Charts
DOLLY PARTON -- The Essential Dolly Parton, Vol. 2
AL STEWART -- Between The Wars
BRIAN WILSON AND VAN DYKE PARKS -- Orange Crate Art
JERRY LEE LEWIS -- Young Blood
THE 6THS -- Wasps' Nests
THE BEST ALBUMS OF 1994
JOHNNY CASH -- American Recordings
NAS -- Illmatic
GREEN DAY -- Dookie
NIRVANA -- Unplugged In New York
THE MAVERICKS -- What A Crying Shame
BLUR -- Parklife
HOLE -- Live Through This
OASIS -- Definitely Maybe
FRANK SINATRA AND TOMMY DORSEY-- The Song Is You! 1940-1942 on RCA Victor
BEASTIE BOYS -- Ill Communication
VARIOUS ARTISTS -- The Doo Wop Box
BECK -- Mellow Gold/One Foot In The Grave
ROSEMARY CLOONEY -- Still On The Road
GRANDMASTER FLASH AND THE FURIOUS FIVE -- Message From Beat Street: The Best Of Grandmaster Flash, Melle Mel and the Furious Five
MORRISSEY -- Vauxhall And I
THE NOTORIOUS B.I.G. -- Ready To Die
PEARL JAM -- Vitalogy
VARIOUS ARTISTS -- Passion (Original Cast Recording)
JEFF BUCKLEY -- Grace
WEEZER -- Weezer
EVERYTHING BUT THE GIRL -- Amplified Heart
IRIS DEMENT -- My Life
CHARLIE HADEN QUARTET WEST -- Always Say Goodbye
THE MAGNETIC FIELDS -- The Charm Of The Highway Strip
ERIC DOLPHY -- Space-Age Bachelor Pad Music
JONI MITCHELL -- Turbulent Indigo
TONY BENNETT -- MTV Unplugged: Tony Bennett
THE BEST ALBUMS OF 1993
CASSANDRA WILSON -- Blue Light 'Til Dawn
DWIGHT YOAKAM -- This Time
AIMEE MANN -- Whatever
PEARL JAM -- Vs.
MESHELL NDEGEOCELLO -- Plantation Lullabies
ROSEMARY CLOONEY -- Do You Miss New York?
CHRIS ISAAK -- San Francisco Days
ARVO PART -- Te Deum
ELVIS PRESLEY -- From Nashville To Memphis: The Essential '60s Masters
JIMMIE DALE GILMORE -- Spinning Around The Sun
NIRVANA -- In Utero
VARIOUS ARTISTS -- Mambo Kings Play Songs Of Love (compilation, not soundtrack)
PET SHOP BOYS -- Very
WU-TANG CLAN -- Enter The Wu-Tang
SHELBY LYNNE -- Temptation
TOM WAITS -- The Black Rider
TERENCE TRENT D'ARBY -- Symphony Or Damn
ZAP MAMA -- Adventures In Afropea
TONY BENNETT -- Steppin' Out
BOB DYLAN -- World Gone Wrong
ELVIS COSTELLO -- The Juliet Letters
COUNTING CROWS -- August And Everything After
THE BEST ALBUMS OF 1992
kd lang -- Ingenue
R.E.M. -- Automatic For The People
ABBA -- Gold
LOS LOBOS -- Kiko
THE JAYHAWKS -- Hollywood Town Hall
ELVIS PRESLEY -- The King Of Rock 'n' Roll: The Complete '50s Masters
MORRISSEY -- Your Arsenal
LYLE LOVETT -- Joshua Judges Ruth
TOM WAITS -- Bone Machine
CHARLIE HADEN QUARTET WEST -- Haunted Heart
NEIL YOUNG -- Harvest Moon
DR. DRE -- The Chronic
ERIC CLAPTON -- Unplugged
HENRYK GORECKI -- Symphony No. 3
ANNIE LENNOX -- Diva
LEONARD COHEN -- The Future
EVERYTHING BUT THE GIRL -- Acoustic
BOB DYLAN -- Good As I Been To You
SHIRLEY HORN -- Here's To Life
TONY BENNETT -- Perfectly Frank
LINDSEY BUCKINGHAM -- Out Of The Cradle
ARRESTED DEVELOPMENT -- 3 Years, 5 Months and 2 Days In The Life Of...
HARRY CONNICK JR. -- 25
THE BEST ALBUMS OF 1991
NIRVANA -- Nevermind
U2 -- Achtung Baby
RICHARD THOMPSON -- Rumor And Sigh
RAY CHARLES -- The Birth of Soul (boxed set)
BILLIE HOLIDAY -- The Complete Decca Recordings
BILLIE HOLIDAY -- The Complete Billie Holiday on Verve 1945-1959 (1991 boxed set)
PEARL JAM -- Ten
VARIOUS ARTISTS -- Beauty and the Beast Original Motion Picture Soundtrack
JIMMIE DALE GILMORE -- After Awhile
SHIRLEY HORN -- You Won't Forget Me
PHIL SPECTOR -- Back To Mono 1958-1969 (boxed set)
BARBRA STREISAND -- Just For The Record... (boxed set)
STEPHEN SONDHEIM -- Assassins Original Cast Recording
ARVO PART -- Miserere
BOB DYLAN -- The Bootleg Series Vol. 1-3 (Rare and Unreleased)
COLE PORTER/EVANS HAILE -- Fifty Million Frenchmen
ABBEY LINCOLN -- You Gotta Pay The Band
THE BEST ALBUMS OF 1990
MADONNA -- The Immaculate Collection
HAPPY MON
For people who always ask, "What are your favorite albums?" here's the answer. I start with my top pick from each year as a sort of uber list. No, it's not "the most important albums" period, just the album that meant the most to me from each year and usually that meant the album I played the most. Some years the choice was obvious, other times a few battled it out. But you could do worse as a music buff than making sure you listen to all my #1 picks. I follow this list with a breakdown of my favorite albums year by year.
THE BEST ALBUMS OF ALL TIME (MY #1 PICK FROM EACH YEAR 1924 TO THE PRESENT)
THE 2010s
JAMES HUNTER -- Hold On! (2016 -- work-in-progress)
SUFJAN STEVENS -- Carrie and Lowell (2015)
KAISER CHIEFS -- Education, Education, Education and War (2014)
JANELLE MONAE -- The Electric Lady (2013)
RUMER -- Seasons Of My Soul/Boys Don't Cry (2012)
FLEET FOXES -- Hopelessness Blues (2011)
THE TALLEST MAN ON EARTH -- The Wild Hunt (2010)
THE 2000s
THE AVETT BROTHERS -- I And Love And You (2009)
WILLIE NELSON AND WYNTON MARSALIS -- Two Men With The Blues (2008)
SHARON JONES AND THE DAP KINGS -- 100 Days 100 Nights (2007)
BOB DYLAN -- Modern Times (2006)
SUFJAN STEVENS -- Illinois (2005)
GREEN DAY -- American Idiot (2004)
THE WHITE STRIPES -- Elephant (2003)
NORAH JONES -- Come Away With Me (2002)
MANU CHAO -- Proxima Estacion: Esperanza (2001)
EMINEM -- The Marshall Mathers LP (2000)
THE 1990s
DAVID GRAY -- White Ladder (1999)
BILLY BRAGG AND WILCO -- Mermaid Avenue (1998)
RADIOHEAD -- O.K. Computer (1997)
BECK -- Odelay (1996)
THE MAVERICKS -- Music For All Occasions (1995 -- tie)
ALISON KRAUSS -- Now That I've Found You: A Collection (1995 -- tie)
JOHNNY CASH -- American Recordings (1994)
CASSANDRA WILSON -- Blue Light 'Til Dawn (1993)
kd lang -- Ingenue (1992)
NIRVANA -- Nevermind (1991)
MADONNA -- The Immaculate Collection (1990)
THE 1980s
BEASTIE BOYS -- Paul's Boutique (1989)
PUBLIC ENEMY -- It Takes A Nation Of Millions To Hold Us Back (1988)
DOLLY PARTON, LINDA RONSTADT, EMMYLOU HARRIS -- Trio (1987)
PAUL SIMON -- Graceland (1986 -- tie)
VARIOUS ARTISTS -- The Indestructible Beat Of Soweto Volume One (1986 -- tie)
BARBRA STREISAND -- The Broadway Album (1985 -- tie)
PREFAB SPROUT -- Steve McQueen aka Two Wheels Good (1985 -- tie)
U2 -- The Unforgettable Fire (1984)
R.E.M. -- Murmur (1983)
BRUCE SPRINGSTEEN -- Nebraska (1982)
QUEEN -- Greatest Hits (1981)
JOHN LENNON AND YOKO ONO -- Double Fantasy (1980)
THE 1970s
THE CLASH -- London Calling (1979)
WILLIE NELSON -- Stardust (1978)
STEELY DAN -- Aja (1977)
STEVIE WONDER -- Songs In The Key Of Life (1976)
BOB DYLAN -- Blood On The Tracks/The Basement Tapes (1975)
RICHARD AND LINDA THOMPSON -- I Want To See The Bright Lights Tonight (1974)
BOB MARLEY AND THE WAILERS -- Catch A Fire/Burnin' (1973)
SIMON AND GARFUNKEL -- Greatest Hits (1972)
JONI MITCHELL -- Blue (1971)
RANDY NEWMAN -- 12 Songs (1970 -- tie)
HARRY NILSSON -- Nilsson Sings Newman (1970 -- tie)
THE 1960s
THE BEATLES -- Abbey Road (1969)
VAN MORRISON -- Astral Weeks (1968)
ARETHA FRANKLIN -- I Never Loved A Man (The Way I Love You) (1967)
THE BEACH BOYS -- Pet Sounds (1966 -- tie)
THE BEATLES -- Revolver (1966 -- tie)
BOB DYLAN -- Bringing It All Back Home/Highway 61 (1965)
STAN GETZ AND JOAO GILBERTO -- Getz/Gilberto (1964)
PATSY CLINE -- The Patsy Cline Story (1963)
RAY CHARLES -- Modern Sounds In Country and Western Music Vol 1 and 2 (1962)
BILL EVANS -- Sunday At The Village Vanguard/Waltz For Debby (1961)
ELLA FITZGERALD -- The Intimate Ella (1960)
THE 1950s
MILES DAVIS -- Kind Of Blue/Workin'/Porgy and Bess (1959)
ELVIS PRESLEY -- Elvis' Golden Records Vol. 1 (1958)
LERNER AND LOEWE -- My Fair Lady Original Broadway Cast (1957)
ELLA FITZGERALD -- Sings The Cole Porter Songbook (1956)
FRANK SINATRA -- In The Wee Small Hours (1955)
DINAH WASHINGTON -- Dinah Jams (1954)
PEGGY LEE -- Black Coffee (1953)
VARIOUS ARTISTS/HARRY SMITH -- The Anthology Of American Folk Music (1952)
HANK WILLIAMS -- 40 Greatest Hits (1951)
BILLIE HOLIDAY -- The Complete Decca Recordings (1944-1950) (1950)
THE 1940s
DJANGO REINHARDT -- Djangology 49 (1949)
HANK WILLIAMS -- 40 Greatest Hits (1948)
WOODY GUTHRIE -- Songs To Grow On: Nursery Days aka For Mother And Child (1947)
BING CROSY AND THE ANDREWS SISTERS -- Their Complete Recordings Together (1939-1951) (1946)
BING CROSBY -- Merry Christmas (1945)
RODGERS AND HAMMERSTEIN -- Oklahoma! (1944)
DUKE ELLINGTON -- The Carnegie Hall Concerts: January 1943 (1943)
FRANK SINATRA AND TOMMY DORSEY-- The Song Is You! 1940-1942 on RCA Victor (1942)
DUKE ELLINGTON -- The Blanton-Webster Band (1941)
DUKE ELLINGTON -- The Blanton-Webster Band/1937-1940 on Classics Label (1940)
THE 1930s
GLENN MILLER -- The Essential Glenn Miller (1939)
BENNY GOODMAN -- Benny Goodman At Carnegie Hall (1938)
BILLIE HOLIDAY -- The Quintessential Billie Holiday Vol 3-4 1936-1937 (1937)
ROBERT JOHNSON -- King Of The Delta Blues Singers Vol. 1 (1936)
BING CROSY -- Bing Crosby: His Legendary Years (1931-1957) [Decca 1934-1954] (1935)
BING CROSY -- Bing Crosby: His Legendary Years (1931-1957) [Brunswick 1931-1934; Decca 1934-1954] (1934)
BESSIE SMITH -- The Collection (1933)
THE MILLS BROTHERS -- The 1930's Recordings (1932)
BING CROSY -- Bing Crosby: His Legendary Years (1931-1957) [Brunswick 1931-1934] (1931)
DUKE ELLINGTON -- The OKeh Ellington 1927-1930/1924-1930 on Classics Label (1930)
THE 1920s
CHARLEY PATTON -- King Of The Delta Blues (1929-1934) (1929)
MISSISSIPPI JOHN HURT -- Avalon Blues: The Complete 1928 Okeh Recordings (1928)
HENRY THOMAS -- Bull Doze Blues (1927-1929)
LOUIS ARMSTRONG -- The Complete Hot Five And Seven Recordings (1927)
LOUIS ARMSTRONG -- The Complete Hot Five And Seven Recordings (1926)
LOUIS ARMSTRONG -- The Complete Hot Five And Seven Recordings (1925)
DUKE ELLINGTON -- 1924-1930 on Classics Label (1924)
THE BEST ALBUMS OF 2016 (work in progress)
DAVID BOWIE -- Blackstar
JAMES HUNTER -- Hold On!
M WARD -- More Rain
PANIC! AT THE DISCO -- Death Of A Bachelor
DORI FREEMAN -- Dori Freeman
THE BEST ALBUMS OF 2015 (work in progress)
SUFJAN STEVENS -- Carrie and Lowell
JILL SCOTT -- Woman
KENDRICK LAMAR -- To Pimp A Butterfly
CHRIS STAPLETON -- Traveller
THE TALLEST MAN ON EARTH -- Dark Bird Is Home
COURTNEY BARNETT -- Sometimes I Just Sit And Think And Sometimes I Just Sit
TONY BENNETT AND BILL CHARLAP -- The Silver Lining: The SongsOf Jerome Kern *** 1/2
THE FRATELLIS -- Eyes Wide Tongue Tied
IRIS DEMENT -- The Trackless Woods
IKE REILLY -- Born On Fire
KAMASI WASHINGTON -- The Epic
BOZ SCAGGS -- A Fool To Care
KACEY MUSGRAVES -- Pageant Material
LIN-MANUEL MIRANDA -- Hamilton (Original Broadway Cast)
ORANGE HUMBLE BAND -- Depressing Beauty
COWBOY JUNKIES -- Notes Falling Slowly
TINARIWEN -- Live In Paris, 2014
CARRIE UNDERWOOD -- Storyteller
TAME IMPALA -- Currents
AMY LAVERE AND WILL SEXTON -- Hallelujah I'm A Dreamer
DRAKE -- If You're Reading This, It's Too Late
SARA BAREILLES -- What's Inside: Music From Waitress
JASON ISBELL -- Something More Than Free
VINCE STAPLES -- Summertime '06
VERUCA SALT -- Ghost Notes
LOS LOBOS -- Gates Of Gold
LINDI ORTEGA -- Faded Gloryville
SHAKEY GRAVES -- Nobody's Fool
STEVE EARLE -- Terraplace
FALL OUT BOY -- American Beauty/American Psycho
GARNET MIMMS -- Looking For You: The Complete United Artists and Veep Singles
PATTY GRIFFIN -- Servant Of Love
BONES -- Powder
DWIGHT YOAKAM -- Second-Hand Heart
DANIEL ROMANO -- If I've Only One Time Askin'
ADELE -- 25
THE MAVERICKS -- Mono
ANDERSON EAST -- Delilah
DON HENLEY -- Cass County
CAGE THE ELEPHANT -- Tell Me I'm Pretty
ERIC CHURCH -- Mr. Misunderstood
BOB DYLAN -- Shadows In The Night
THE BEST ALBUMS OF 2014
KAISER CHIEFS -- Education, Education, Education and War
STURGILL SIMPSON -- Metamodern Sounds In Country Music
SHARON JONES AND THE DAP KINGS -- Give The People What They Want
COURTNEY BARNETT -- Double EP: A Sea Of Spilt Peas
BONES -- Skinny and Rotten and Seabed et al
BECK -- Morning Phase
THE FEELING -- Boy Cried Wolf
AMY LAVERE -- Runaway's Diary/ BETTY BUCKLEY -- Ghostlight
BRIAN ENO AND KARL HYDE -- Someday World
BETA RADIO -- Colony Of Bees
BEN L'ONCLE SOUL -- A Coup de Reves
JIMMER PODRASKY -- The Would-Be Plans
CHUCK PROPHET -- Night Surfer
ARIANA GRANDE -- My Everything
TINARIWEN -- Emmar
THE VINES -- Wicked Nature
BENJAMIN BOOKER -- Benjamin Booker
DAMON ALBARN -- Everyday Robots
MARY J BLIGE -- The London Sessions
J COLE -- 2014 Forest Hills Drive
HURRAY FOR THE RIFF RAFF -- Small Town Heroes
ROSANNE CASH -- The River And The Thread
HAMILTON LEITHAUSER -- Dark Hours
DYLAN GARDNER -- Adventures In Real Time (tie) and
PETE MOLINARI -- Theosophy '14 (tie)
COMMON -- Nobody's Smiling
KELLY WILLIS AND BRUCE ROBISON -- Our Year
LEONARD COHEN -- Popular Problems
GREG ASHLEY -- Another Generation of Slaves
STANTON MOORE -- Conversations
THE GHOST OF A SABER TOOTH TIGER -- Midnight Sun
SKATERS -- Manhattan
TOM PETTY -- Hypnotic Eye
BEN HOWARD -- I Forget Where We Were
RUMER -- Into Colour
ROBBIE WILLIAMS -- Under The Radar, Vol. 1
JOHN HIATT -- Terms Of My Surrender
SHE AND HIM -- Classics
THE VERONICAS -- The Veronicas
OLD CROW MEDICINE SHOW -- Remedy
tUnE yArDs -- Nikki Nack
TIM MCGRAW -- Sundown Heaven Town
NEIL DIAMOND -- Melody Road (tie)
BARRY MANILOW -- Night Songs (tie)
THE LIVING SISTERS -- Harmony Is Real: Songs For A Happy Holiday
THE BEST ALBUMS OF 2013
1-10ish
JANELLE MONAE -- The Electric Lady
DAVID BOWIE -- The Next Day
PAUL MCCARTNEY -- New
FRANK TURNER -- Tape Deck Heart
BOMBINO -- Nomad
LINDA THOMPSON -- Won't Be Long Now
ARCTIC MONKEYS -- AM
VAMPIRE WEEKEND -- Modern Vampires Of The City
JAMES COTTON -- Cotton Mouth Man
KEITH JARRETT -- Somewhere
PATTY GRIFFIN -- American Kid and Silver Bell
11-20
BOB DYLAN -- Another Self Portrait
THE LONE BELLOW -- The Lone Bellow
DAFT PUNK -- Random Access Memories
LORDE -- Pure Heroin(e)
EMINEM -- The Marshall Mathers LP2
JOHN MAYER -- Paradise Valley
KELLY WILLIS AND BRUCE ROBISON -- Cheater's Game
KODALINE -- In A Perfect World
PANIC! AT THE DISCO -- Too Weird To Live, Too Rare To Die
MAVIS STAPLES -- One True Vine
21-30
THE WATERBOYS -- Fisherman Box
RICHARD THOMPSON -- Electric
RHYE -- Woman
LAURA MVULA -- Sing To The Moon
BRAD PAISLEY -- Wheelhouse
THE MAVERICKS -- In Time
RON SEXSMITH -- Forever Endeavor
KING KRULE -- 6 Feet Beneath The Moon
MIDLAKE -- Antiphon
VARIOUS ARTISTS -- Divided and United: Songs Of The Civil War
31-40
ELVIS COSTELLO AND THE ROOTS -- Wake Up Ghost
CAGE THE ELEPHANT -- Melophobia
CAGE THE ELEPHANT -- Melophobia
GUY CLARK -- My Favorite Picture Of You
BASTILLE -- Bad Blood
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LITTLE GREEN CARS -- Absolute Zero
41-48
BILLIE JOE ARMSTRONG AND NORAH JONES -- Foreverly
ALICE RUSSELL -- To Dust
WILLIAM TYLER -- Impossible Truth
JASON ISBELL -- Southeastern
LINDI ORTEGA -- Tin Star
VAN DYKE PARKS -- Song Cycled
THE CIVIL WARS -- The Civil Wars
PREFAB SPROUT -- Crimson Red
VARIOUS ARTISTS -- Inside Llewyn Davis
TIM CHRISTENSEN -- Pure McCartney
THE BEST ALBUMS OF 2012
1. RUMER -- Seasons Of My Soul/Boys Don't Cry (70s pop perfection)
2. BRANFORD MARSALIS -- Four MF's Playin' Their Tunes (hard-driving jazz; faultless)
3. THE TALLEST MAN ON EARTH -- There's No Leaving Now(inspiringly good Dylanesque rock)
4. FRANK OCEAN -- Channel Orange (state of the art soul)
5. PAUL BUCHANAN -- Mid Air (emotionally intense, late night confessions)
BILL FAY -- Life Is People (age+wisdom+piano+God)
6. JOHANN JOHANNSSON -- The Miners' Hymns (the film score of the year)
7. FIONA APPLE -- The Idler Wheel Is Wiser Than The Driver Of The Screw And Whipping Cords Will Serve You More Than Ropes Will Ever Do (pop artist at peak of her powers)
8. JAMEY JOHNSON -- Living For A Dream: A Tribute To Hank Cochran (all-star country hoedown)
9. DR. JOHN -- Locked Down (triumphant New Orleans music)
10. MUMFORD AND SONS -- Babel (flowering of Americana)
THE LUMINEERS -- The Lumineers
PIGPEN THEATRE CO. -- Bremen
THE AVETT BROTHERS -- The Carpenter
11. KASEY CHAMBERS AND SHANE NICHOLSON -- Wreck And Ruin (world class folk-country-blues)
12. NAS -- Life Is Good (rap for grown ups)
13. LEONARD COHEN -- Old Ideas (magisterial pop)
14. JOSEPHINE -- Portrait (two English lasses with talent to burn)
LIANNA LA HAVAS -- Is Your Love Big Enough
15. GRANT LEE-PHILLIPS -- Walking In The Green Corn (acoustic gem)
16. ANTIBALAS -- Antibalas (Fela Kuti lives!)
17. IRIS DEMENT -- Sing The Delta (comeback of the year)
BOO HANS WITH DON FLEMONS -- Buffalo Junction
18. VIJAY AYER TRIO -- Accelerando (jazz piano)
BRAD MEHLDAU -- Where Do You Start/Ode
19. THE HIVES -- Lex Hives (rock, by god)
JAPANDROID -- Celebration Rock
THE DOUGHBOYS -- Shakin' Our Souls
20. BRUCE SPRINGSTEEN -- Wrecking Ball (life in them old dogs yet)
BOB DYLAN -- Tempest
21. CHRIS SMITHER -- Hundred Dollar Valentine (blues master)
22. DIANA KRALL -- Glad Rag Doll (digging deeper jazz talent)
23. ED SHEERAN -- + (thoughtful British pop)
24. KENDRICK LAMAR -- good kid, mA.A.d city (rap smarts)
25. MELODY GARDOT -- The Absence (singular voice heads to Brazil)
26. FATHER JOHN MISTY -- Fear Fun (Fleet Foxes redux, in a good way)
DAMIEN JURADO -- Maraqopa
LORD HURON -- Impossible Dreams
BOY AND BEAR -- Moonfire
27. THE TIME JUMPERS -- The Time Jumpers (Western swing)
28. NEIL YOUNG AND CRAZY HORSE -- Psychedelic Pill/Americana (still kicking, still stinging)
29. WILLIAM TYLER -- Impossible Truth (guitar instrumental) (officially out March 2013)
30. BETTYE LAVETTE -- Thankful N' Thoughtful (soul survivor)
31. BILLY BRAGG AND WILCO -- Mermaid Avenue Volume 3 (unexpected gem from vault)
32. MICHAEL KIWANUKA -- Home Again (70s soul circa Bill Withers)
MIGUEL -- Kaleidoscope Dream (70s soul circa Marvin Gaye)
33. REGINA SPEKTOR -- What We Saw From The Cheap Seats (quirky pop)
NORAH JONES -- Little Broken Hearts (leaving jazz behind)
34. JACK WHITE -- Blunderbuss (eclectic; electric)
35. TAME IMPALA -- Lonerism (psychedelica redefined)
36. GREEN DAY -- Uno!/Dos!/Tres! (purging punk pop)
37. BRANDI CARLILE -- Bear Creek (an indie voice in the wilderness)
38. RAVI COLTRANE -- Spirit Fiction (jazz royalty, wearing the crown well)
39. JOHN MAYER -- Born And Raised (skip the interviews, play the music)
40. PUNCH BROTHERS -- Who's Feeling Young Now?/Ahoy (bluegrass expanded)
JASON ALDEAN -- Night Train (country demanded)
DWIGHT YOAKUM -- 3 Pears (rebel remanded)
41. BRIAN ENO -- Lux (genius in solo instrumental mode)
42. BRUNO MARS -- Unorthodox Jukebox (Michael Jackson's heir apparent)
43. SUZANNE VEGA -- Close Up Vol. 4: Songs Of Family (revealing catalog)
44. JAKE BUGG -- Jake Bugg (promising UK folkie)
45. BAND OF HORSES -- Mirage Rock (career best for rockers)
46. THE MAGNETIC FIELDS -- Love At The Bottom Of The Sea (miserablist pop)
47. BRYAN FERRY -- The Jazz Age (left turn instrumentals)
48. DAVID BYRNE AND ST. VINCENT -- Love This Giant (a rock giant shows signs of life)
49. DAMON ALBARN -- Dr. Dee (pastoral concept album about English eccentric)
50. KRIS KRISTOFFERSON -- Feeling Mortal (one foot in the grave country)
THE BEST ALBUMS OF 2011
1. FLEET FOXES -- Helplessness Blues (CSN rocks out)
2. TOM WAITS -- Bad As Me (bohemian troubadour in top form)
3. KING CREOSOTE AND JON HOPKINS -- Diamond Mine (quirky concept album, gorgeously done)
4. GILLIAN WELCH -- The Harrow and the Harvest (simple, straightforward, striking folk)
5. TEDDY THOMPSON -- Bella / kd lang Sing It Loud
RON SEXSMITH -- Long Player, Late Bloomer (pure pop by pure pros)
6. WYNTON MARSALIS AND ERIC CLAPTON -- Play the Blues
BRANFORD MARSALIS AND JOEY CALDARAZZO -- Songs of Mirth and Melancholy (trad jazz)
7. GLEN CAMPBELL -- Ghost on the Canvas (haunting country pop)
8. BOMBINO -- Agadez (Tuareg rocks!)
BOUBACAR TRAORE -- Mali Denhou (gentle African guitar)
LADYSMITH BLACK MAMBAZO -- Songs From a Zulu Farm (ecstatic and playful children's music)
9. VARIOUS ARTISTS -- This May Be My Last Time Singing: Raw African American Gospel on 45 RPM (1957-1982) (lo-fi, high flying gospel that's so good you'll convert)
10. ADELE -- 21 (unstoppable soul diva)
***
11. GROUPLOVE -- Never Trust a Happy Song (raucous LA pop-rock)
12. PANIC! AT THE DISCO -- Vices and Virtues (sterling but overlooked pop-rock)
13. NICK LOWE -- The Old Magic (vintage wine, vintage bottle)
14. WILD FLAG -- Wild Flag (giving super groups a good name)
15. BRAD MEHLDAU -- Modern Music (dependably adventurous jazz trio)
COLIN VALLON -- Rruger (bold EU trio following in Mehldau's wake)
16. JAY-Z AND KANYE WEST -- Watch the Throne (braggadocio taken to new heights)
17. BON IVER -- Bon Iver (stares down success with quiet confidence)
18. BALLAKE SISSOKO AND VINCENT SEGAL -- Chamber Music (delicate instrumentals)
19. PAUL SIMON -- So Beautiful or So What (mortality, musically)
20. BETH HART AND JOE BONAMASSA -- Don't Explain (the blues, thumpingly good)
***
21. PRESERVATION HALL JAZZ BAND AND DEL MCCOURY BAND -- American Legacies (an institution finds new life via collaboration)
22. AMBROSE AKINMUSIRE -- When the Heart Emerges Glistening (quietly probing jazz)
23. JAMES BLAKE -- James Blake (trippy pop)
24. VARIOUS ARTISTS -- Live From the Old Town School (folk's beating heart)
25. GIRLS -- Father, Son, Holy Ghost (interesting identity crisis)
26. TINARIWEN -- Tassili (bluesy, distinctive, campfire sing-alongs)
27. JOY FORMIDABLE -- The Big Roar (noisy pop)
28. DARI0 MARINELLI WITH JACK LIEBECK -- Jane Eyre soundtrack (the year's best score)
MATTHEW COOPER -- Some Days Are Better Than Others (the year's best untraditional score)
29. THE CORAL -- Butterfly House
THE MAGIC NUMBERS -- Runaway (pop, unimported, unrecognized)
30. PISTOL ANNIES -- Pistol Annies
MIRANDA LAMBERT -- Four The Record (country's top gal and friends)
***
31. THE LOW ANTHEM -- Smart Flesh (brainy Americana)
32. CHARLIE HADEN AND QUARTET WEST -- Sophisticated Ladies (female singers, jazz swingers)
33. THE BLACK KEYS -- El Camino (rock, no fuss)
34. M83 -- Hurry Up, We're Dreaming (ambient pop)
35. ALISON KRAUSS AND UNION STATION -- Paper Airplanes
JOHN HIATT -- Dirty Jeans and Mudslide Hymns (old dogs, old tricks, happily so)
36. BEASTIE BOYS -- Hot Sauce Committee, Part Two (feisty hip-hop from the old-timers)
37. BEN HOWARD -- Every Kingdom (gentle pop)
MIKE BLOOM -- King Of Circles (warm singer-songwriter vibe for this solo debut)
38. VINICIUS CANTUARIA AND BILL FRISELL -- Lagrimas Mexicanas (two great guitars, one great voice equal haunting Latin music)/
39. THE GOURDS -- Old Mad Joy (rootsy celebration)
MARC BROUSSARD -- Marc Broussard (bluesy rock)
40. SUZANNE VEGA -- Close-Up Volume 3: State Of Being (acoustic songs, electric songwriting)
***
41. VARIOUS ARTISTS -- Those Shocking, Shaking Days: Indonesia Hard, Psychedelic, Progressive Rock and Funk (1970-1978) (rock and roll knows no borders)
42. VARIOUS ARTISTS -- The Book of Mormon Original Cast Album (religiously funny)
43. DRAKE -- Take Care (emo-rap)
SHABAZZ PALACES -- Black Up
44. BRAD PAISLEY -- This Is Country Music (yes it is)
STEVE EARLE -- I'll Never Get Out Of This World Alive (determined, focused country)
45. MEGAFAUN -- Megafaun ('70s-ish rock)
46. FATOUMATA DIAWARA -- Fatou (Malian guitar talent combined with impeccable vocals) KHAIRA ARBY -- Timbukto Traab (country to Diawara's city sound; not locale so much as the gritty, rawer feel)
47. HOUSTON PERSON -- So Nice (late period capper for understated jazz blower)
48. REAL ESTATE -- Days -- (shimmering indie pop)
49. EILEEEN JEWELL -- Queen of the Minor Key (sneakily impressive)
50. FRANK OCEAN -- nostalgia/ultra (backward/forward looking moody pop)
THE BEST ALBUMS OF 2010
1. THE TALLEST MAN ON EARTH -- The Wild Hunt/Sometimes The Blues Is Just A Passing Bird (Dylanesque folk-rock)
2. PETER WOLF -- Midnight Souvenirs (raucous career peak)
3. ALI FARKA TOURE AND TOUMANI DIABTE -- Ali And Toumani (transcendent world music)
4. ARCADE FIRE -- The Suburbs (state of the art rock)
5. JANELLE MONAE -- The ArchAndroid
ERYKAH BADU -- New Amerykah Part Two: Return of The Ankh (Prince-like funky soul pop craziness)
6. BUDDY GUY -- Living Proof (ferocious blues)
7. EMINEM -- Recovery
KANYE WEST -- My Beautiful Dark Twisted Fantasy (rap comebacks)
8. JOHN GRANT -- Queen Of Denmark
MIDLAKE -- The Courage Of Others (gorgeous rock; British folk)
9. KEITH JARRETT AND CHARLIE HADEN -- Jasmine (sublime, beautiful jazz)
10. MUMFORD AND SONS -- Sigh No More (literate rock)
***
11. SHARON JONES AND THE DAP KINGS -- I Learned The Hard Way (soul -- not retro, just timeless)
12. SUFJAN STEVENS -- All Delighted People EP (nutty rock)
13. ROBERT PLANT -- Band Of Joy (folk-rock, Fairport Convention via Nashville)
14. VARIOUS ARTISTS -- Afrocubism (Buena Vista Social Club spliced with Malian pop)
15. MY CHEMICAL ROMANCE -- Danger Days (anthemic rock)
16. TRACEY THORN -- Love and Its Opposite (adult pop)
17. PRESERVATION HALL JAZZ BAND -- Preservation (an all-star album that actually works)
18. BRUNO MARS -- Doo-Wops And Hooligans
ROBYN -- Body Talk (irresistible pop)
19. GORILLAZ -- Plastic Beach (genre-jumping rock)
20. NEIL YOUNG -- Le Noise (stomping folk)
***
21. CAROLINA CHOCOLATE DROPS -- Genuine Negro Jigs (trad, modern, country, folk, blues, unclassifiable)
22. ELIZABETH AND THE CATAPULTS -- Other Side Of Zero (promising debut)
23. BEACH HOUSE -- Teen Dreams (alterna-pop)
24. JAMEY JOHNSON -- The Guitar Song (no fuss country)
25. BEST COAST -- Crazy For You (lo-fi Beach Boys pop)
26. BRENDAN JAMES -- Brendan James (a career peak)
27. THE BLACK KEYS -- Brothers (smart rock)
28. HOLE -- Nobody's Daughter (Courtney Love doesn't get any respect but deserves it)
29. CYRUS CHESNUTT - Journeys (trad jazz done with class)
30. SADE -- Soldier Of Love (smooth pop, never misses a beat)
***
31. VARIOUS ARTISTS -- Classic Appalachian Blues (a rich vein of folk blues)
32. THE NATIONAL -- High Violet (moody rock sounds more like the Swans every day)
33. THE ROOTS -- How I Got Over (hip-hop for adults)
34. SUZANNE VEGA -- Close Up Vol 1: Love Songs (folk-pop)
35. ELTON JOHN AND LEON RUSSELL -- The Union (old friends, strong new music)
36. SHE AND HIM -- Volume 2 (girl group pop)
37. FOXES IN FICTION -- Swung From The Branches (swirly, headphone rock)
38. LIL BAND O' GOLD -- Lil Band O' Gold (New Orleans gem)
39. ELIZABETH MITCHELL -- Sunny Day (infectious kids' music)
40. LIONEL LUEKE -- Mwaliko (sophisticated jazz)
***
41. TOM JONES -- Praise And Blame (joyful gospel)
42. WILLIAM TYLER -- Behold The Spirit (terrific instrumental a la Fahey)
43. VARIOUS ARTISTS -- The Sound of Siam (eye-opening Asian pop)
44. VAMPIRE WEEKEND -- Contra (world pop)
TWO DOOR CINEMA CLUB -- Tourist History (if Vampire Weekend had a kid brother)
45. ELVIS COSTELLO -- National Ransom (rootsy rock from the genre-hopping savant)
46. 3 FERVENT TRAVELERS -- Time For Three (bluegrass taken out of the museum)
47. CORINNE BAILEY RAE -- The Sea (dark, vulnerable pop)
48. MEAGHAN SMITH -- The Cricket's Orchestra (refined pop)
49. DENNIS BROWN -- The Crown Prince Of Reggae: Singles 1972-1985 (incomplete but still great anthology)
50. CASSANDRA WILSON -- Silver Pony (jazz vocals, classy)
BRIAN ENO -- Small Craft On A Milk Sea (electronic noodling)
THE BEST ALBUMS OF 2009
1. THE AVETT BROTHERS -- I And Love And You (Americana)
REGINA SPEKTOR -- Far (quirky pop via Russian kitsch)
2. ELLA FITZGERALD -- Twelve Nights In Hollywood (swinging jazz vocalese)
KEITH JARRETT -- Somewhere
3. MAXWELL -- BLACKsummers'night (Seventies soul)
4. WILLIE NELSON -- American Classic (Stardust II)
ROSANNE CASH -- The List (the Great American Songbook, country style)
5. MADELEINE PEYROUX -- Bare Bones
MELODY GARDOT -- My One And Only Thrill
KRISTINA TRAIN -- Spilt Milk (songbirds, via Paris and Memphis)
6. MARK OLSON AND GARY LOURIS -- Ready For The Flood (Jayhawks redux)
7. MAYER HAWTHORNE -- A Strange Arrangement (blue eyed soul)
8. LOUDON WAINWRIGHT -- High, Wide And Handsome: The Charlie Poole Project (hilarious, heartfelt blues)
9. THE XX -- The XX (boy-girl dynamics)
GIRLS -- Album (quietly ambitious rock)
10. DUNCAN SHEIK -- Whisper House (the real twilight soundtrack)
***
11. NELLIE MCKAY -- Normal As Blueberry Pie: A Tribute To Doris Day (effortless old-fashioned pop)
12. THE BLACK CROWES -- Before The Frost...Until The Freeze (roots rock enlivened by a live audience)
13. BRAD PAISLEY -- American Saturday Night (country with a dash of humor)
14. ALLEN TOUSSAINT -- The Bright Mississippi (casual jazz brilliance)
15. PEARL JAM -- Backspacer (the sound of veterans waking up)
GREEN DAY -- 21st Century Breakdown (worthy successor to American Idiot; really)
16. BASSEKOU KOUYATE -- I Speak Fula
VIEUX FARKA TOURE -- Fondo (world class world music)
17. CONOR OBERST AND THE MYSTIC VALLEY BAND -- Outer South (Americana)
ELLIOTT BROOD -- Mountain Meadows (Canadiana)
LOW ANTHEM -- Oh My God, Charlie Darwin (evolutiona)
18. ALICIA KEYS -- The Element Of Freedom (tougher beats; same talent)
19. M WARD -- Hold Time (faithful pop)
20. RZA -- Afro Samurai: Resurrection
RAEKWON -- Only Built For Cuban Linx...Part II (keeping the lights on for hip-hop)
***
21. JAMES HAND -- Shadow On The Ground (honky-tonk to its bone)
22. MONSTERS OF FOLK -- Monsters Of Folk (a super supergroup)
23. BRENDAN BENSON -- My Old, Familiar Friend (power pop)
24. VARIOUS ARTISTS -- Ghana Special: Modern Highlife, Afro Sounds AND Ghanaian Blues 1968-1981 (Soundways, the world music label du jour, delivers again)
25. MATTHEW SWEET AND SUSANNA HOFFS -- Under The Covers Vol. 2 (Seventies power pop done to perfection)
26. MIRANDA LAMBERT -- Revolution (a Nashville star)
CLAIRE LYNCH -- Whatcha Gonna Do (bluegrass heaven)
27. PHOENIX -- Wolfgang Amadeus Phoenix (college rock, but still good)
28. SUFJAN STEVENS AND OSSO -- Run Rabbit Run (instrumentals a la Glass)
29. ST. VINCENT -- Actor (quiet/loud/quiet/strange)
30. JAY-Z -- The Blueprint 3 (luxury hip hop)
***
31. JESSE WINCHESTER -- Love Filling Station (journeyman troubadour delivers)
32. PREFAB SPROUT -- Let's Change The World With Music (lost in the vaults gem)
33. GERAINT WATKINS -- In A Bad Mood (Randy Newman and Tom Waits' love child)
34. ELVIS COSTELLO -- Secret, Profane And Sugarcane (elder statesman can still deliver)
35. CHIP TAYLOR -- Yonkers NY (story-song oddity)
36. TORI AMOS -- Midwinter Graces (a holiday album for the ages)
37. DIANA KRALL -- Quiet Nights (Elvis's better half delivers again)
38. THE BLACK HOLLIES -- Softly, Towards The Light (psychedelic nuggets)
39. MIKA -- The Boy Who Knew Too Much (pure pop, with swagger)
40. RICKIE LEE JONES -- Balm In Gilead (return to form)
THE BEST ALBUMS OF 2008
1. WILLIE NELSON AND WYNTON MARSALIS -- Two Men With The Blues
WYNTON MARSALIS -- Standards and Ballads
2. FLEET FOXES -- Fleet Foxes
PETER BRODERICK -- Home
3. MAVIS STAPLES -- Live: Hope At The Holdout
4. TEDDY THOMPSON -- A Piece Of What You Need
kd lang -- Watershed
5. DEL MCCOURY BAND AND VARIOUS ARTISTS -- Moneyland
6. VARIOUS ARTISTS -- Nigeria Special: Modern Highlife, Afro-Sounds And Nigerian Blues 1970-1976
VARIOUS ARTISTS -- Nigeria Disco Funk Special: The Sounds Of The Underground Lagos Dancefloor 1974-1979
7. KAISER CHIEFS -- Off With Their Heads
THE LAST SHADOW PUPPETS -- The Age Of The Understatement
8. BOZ SCAGGS -- Speak Low
9. ERYKAH BADU -- New Amerykah (4th World War) Part One
10. BON IVER -- For Emma, Forever Ago
BON IVER -- Blood Bank
***
11. B.B. KING -- One Kind Favor
12. Q-TIP -- The Renaissance
NAS -- Nas
13. PAUL WELLER -- 22 Dreams
14. JENNY LEWIS -- Acid Tongue
15. SAM ROBERTS -- Love At The End Of The World
16. KASEY CHAMBERS AND SHANE NICHOLSON -- Rattlin' Bones
17. SHE AND HIM -- Volume One
18. VARIOUS ARTISTS -- New Orleans Funk Volume 2
19. NEIL DIAMOND -- Home Before Dark
JOAN BAEZ -- Day After Tomorrow
20. SANTOGOLD -- Santogold
***
21. SONNY ROLLINS -- Road Show Vol. 1
22. SOUTSIDE JOHNNY WITH LABAMBA'S BIG BAND -- Grapefruit Moon: The Songs Of Tom Waits
23. THE FRATELLIS -- Here We Stand
24. INARA GEORGE -- An Invitation with Van Dyke Parks
25. AL GREEN -- Lay It Down
26. LIONEL LOUKE -- Karibu
27. THE GASLIGHT ANTHEM -- The '59 Sound
28. CHARLIE HADEN -- Family And Friends: Rambling Boy
29. JAMES HUNTER -- The Hard Way
30. MARTHA WAINWRIGHT -- I Know You're Married But I've Got Feelings Too
***
31. RICKY IAN GORDON AND MICHAEL KORIE -- The Grapes Of Wrath
32. VAMPIRE WEEKEND -- Vampire Weekend
33. OTIS TAYLOR -- Recapturing The Banjo
34. THE MAGNETIC FIELDS -- Distortion
35. SHELBY LYNNE -- Just A Little Lovin'
36. BLACK MOUNTAIN -- In The Future
37. VARIOUS ARTISTS -- The George Mitchell Collection Volumes 1-45
38. BILL HENDERSON -- Live At The Vic
CASSANDRA WILSON -- Loverly
39. AIMEE MANN -- @#%&*! Smilers
40. JONAS BROTHERS -- A Little Bit Longer
***
41. THE CURE -- 4:13 Dream
42. DAVID BYRNE AND BRIAN ENO -- Everything That Happens Will Happen Today
DAVID BYRNE -- Big Love: Hymnal
43. CONO OBERST -- Conor Oberst
44. NICK CAVE -- Dig Lazarus Dig!!!
SIGUR ROS -- Med Sud I Eyrum Vid Spilum Endalaust
RON SEXSMITH -- Exit Strategy Of The Soul
45. ELBOW -- The Seldom Seen Kid
46. THE REAL TUESDAY WELD -- The End Of The World (Live)
47. THE RACONTUERS-- Consolers Of The Lonely
48. ANTONY AND THE JOHNSONS -- Another World EP
49. SUGARLAND -- Love On The Inside
JAMEY JOHNSON -- That Lonesome Song
50. DANIELA COTTON -- Rare Child
THE WHIGS -- Mission Control
CORY CHISEL AND THE WANDERING SONS -- Cabin Ghosts
THE BEST ALBUMS OF 2007
1. SHARON JONES AND THE DAP-KINGS -- 100 Days 100 Nights (classic soul)
VARIOUS ARTISTS -- The Great Debaters Soundtrack (juke joint music)
2. AMY WINEHOUSE -- Back To Black (bruised retro soul)
3. RADIOHEAD -- In Rainbows (the world-conquering pop they were born to make)
4. TINARIWEN -- Aman Iman: Water Is Life (desert rock)
5. ROBERT PLANT AND ALISON KRAUSS -- Raising Sand (adult pop)
6. THE WHITE STRIPES -- Icky Thump (bluesy, stomping rock n roll)
7. TERENCE BLANCHARD -- A Tale of God's Will (a requiem for Katrina) (melancholic jazz
JONNY GREENWOOD -- There Will Be Blood (spooky, spine-tingling score)
8. PATTY GRIFFIN -- Children Running Through (career-capping Americana)
9. STEVE EARLE -- Washington Square Serenade
SUZANNE VEGA -- Beauty and Crimes (country and folk pop triumphs both, but don't call it a comeback)
10. JAMIE T -- Panic Prevention
LIVESAVAS - Gutterfly (Brit rap; Seventies funk fantasia)
***
11. ARCADE FIRE -- Neon Bible (art rock a la Talking Heads)
12. ANDY BEY -- Ain't Necessarily So (searching jazz vocals)
13. FOUNTAINS OF WAYNE -- Traffic and Weather (pure pop)
RON SEXSMITH -- Time Being (purer pop)
14. TABU LEY ROCHEREAU -- The Voice Of Lightness (floating, Al Green-like world music)
15. THE FEELING -- Twelve Stops and Home (Seventies AM radio)
THE FRATELLIS -- Costello Music (raucous rock)
16. TEDDY THOMPSON -- Upfront and Down Low (dignified country classics)
RICHARD THOMPSON -- Sweet Warrior (sterling rock)
LINDA THOMPSON -- Versatile Heart (delicate folk pop)
17. BASSEKOU KUYATE AND NGONI BA -- Segu Blue (irresistible world music for people mourning Ali Farka)
18. HERBIE HANCOCK -- River: The Joni Letters (Mitchell done proud via jazz))
19. WILLIE NELSON, MERLE HAGGARD, RAY PRICE -- Last Of The Breed (country summit) LEVON HELM -- Dirt Farmer (Lazarus-like revival)
PORTER WAGONER -- Wagonmaster (classy send-off)
20. ARCTIC MONKEYS -- Favourite Worst Nightmare (jagged Brit pop)
KAISER CHIEFS -- Yours Truly, Angry Mob (spiky but smooth Brit pop)
***
21. VARIOUS ARTISTS -- The Roots Of Chica - Psychedelic Cumbias From Peru (garage rock via South America)
22. COMMON -- Finding Forever (rap for adults)
23. STEPHEN FRETWELL -- Man On The Roof (unheralded UK folk-pop)
24. BETTYE LAVETTE -- The Scene Of The Crime (steeped in wisdom soul)
MARY WEISS -- Dangerous Game (old school pop, happily)
25. JOSH RITTER -- The Historical Conquests Of Josh Ritter (literate folk pop with a smile)
26. ANDY PALACIO AND THE GARIFUNA COLLECTIVE -- Watina
PUERTO PLATA -- Mujer de Cabaret (both beautiful, vanishing traditions)
27. THE HIVES -- The Black and White Album (confident, swaggering rock)
28. DAVID BROMBERG -- Try Me One More Time
JOHN HAMMOND -- Push Comes To Shove (grizzled old white man blues)
WATERMELON SLIM AND THE WORKERS - The Wheel Man (the blues, you fool)
29. ROBERT WYATT -- Comicopera (eccentric pop-jazz thingamajig)
30. THE REAL TUESDAY WELD -- The London Book Of The Dead (sneakily ambitious retro pop)
***
31. JOAN ARMATRADING -- Into The Blues (do call it a comeback)
32. THE MAGIC NUMBERS -- Those The Brokes (disappointing but good)
DARREN HAYES -- This Delicate Thing We've Made (good but disappointing)
33. BRUCE SPRINGSTEEN WITH THE SESSIONS BAND -- Live In Dublin (party in the barn music)
34. NICOLE ATKINS -- Neptune City (brooding, Orbison-like pop)
35. SERGIO AND ODAIR ASSAD -- Jardim Abandonado (telepathic classical guitar)
36. RAUL MALO -- After Hours (countrypolitan with velvet vocals)
37. VARIOUS ARTISTS -- Company Original Broadway Cast (2007) (Sondheim, passionately)
38. KELLY WILLIS -- Translated From Love (country, smartly)
39. PANDA BEAR -- Person Pitch (Brian Wilson on LSD, if that's not redundant)
40. OVER THE RHINE -- Snow Angels (Christmas rock for NPR listeners)
***
41. JENS LEKMAN -- Night Falls Over Kortedala (Magentic Fields via Sweden)
42. IAN HUNTER -- Shrunken Heads (cock rock)
43. BEIRUT -- The Flying Cup Club
44. JUANES -- La Vida (fist-shaking rock)
45. THE HOLMES BROTHERS -- State of Grace (master class in the blues)
46. GLEN HANSARD AND MARKETA IRGLOVA -- The Swell Season (you know, those great songs from the movie Once)
47. RYAN ADAMS AND THE CARDINALS -- Follow The Lights (Americana, again)
48. JOHN CORIGLIANO -- Music For String Quartet (American classical)
49. DEE DEE BRIDGEWATER -- Red Earth: A Malian Journey (jazz meets Mali)
ABBEY LINCOLN -- Abbey Sings Abbey (astringent jazz)
50. THE DONNAS -- Bitchin' (dumb, fun as hell Eighties rock)
THE BEST ALBUMS OF 2006
1. BOB DYLAN -- Modern Times
2. CORINNE BAILEY RAE -- Corinne Bailey Rae (tie)
JAMES HUNTER -- People Gonna Talk (tie)
3. MY CHEMICAL ROMANCE -- The Black Parade
4. ARCTIC MONKEYS -- Whatever People Say I Am, That's What I'm Not
5. MIDLAKE -- The Trials of Van Occupanther
6. ROSEANNE CASH -- Black Cadillac (tie)
JOHNNY CASH -- American V: A Hundred Highways
7. MAX RICHTER -- Songs From Before
8. CAT POWER -- The Greatest
9. BRUCE SPRINGSTEEN -- We Shall Overcome: The Seeger Sessions -- American Land Edition
SOLOMON BURKE -- Nashville
RICHARD THOMPSON -- 1000 Years of Popular Music
10. DRAKE BELL -- It's Only Time
***
11. The LA'S -- BBC In Session
12. CANDI STATON -- His Hands (tie)
CANDI STATON -- The Ultimate Gospel Collection
13. DUNCAN SHEIK -- White Limousine (tie)
VARIOUS ARTISTS -- Spring Awakening Original Cast Recording
14. HOWARD TATE -- A Portrait Of Howard
15. VARIOUS ARTISTS -- Tropicalia: A Brazilian Revolution In Sound
16. M. WARD -- Post-War
17. REGINA SPEKTOR -- Begin To Hope
18. TEDDY THOMPSON -- Separate Ways (tie)
THE STROKES -- First Impressions Of Earth
19. TOUMANI DIANATE'S SYMMETRIC ORCHESTRA -- Boulevard De L'Independance
20. MUSE -- Black Holes and Revelations
***
21. ALI FARKA TOURE -- Savane
22. THE STREETS -- The Hardest Way To Make An Easy Living
23. JAMES HAND -- The Truth Will Set You Free
24. IRMA THOMAS -- After The Rain
25. VARIOUS ARTISTS -- The Rough Guide To Latin-Arabia
26. VETIVER -- To Find Me Gone
27. CASSANDRA WILSON -- Thunderbird
28. VARIOUS ARTISTS -- Grey Gardens Original Cast Recording
29. THE RACONTEURS -- Broken Boy Soldiers
30. LARRY LEVAN -- Journey Into Paradise...The Larry Levan Story
***
31. VARIOUS ARTISTS -- Billy Elliot Original Cast Recording
32. RAHIM ALHAJ -- When The Soul Is Settled: Music Of Iraq
33. WOLFMOTHER -- Wolfmother
34. SMOKEY ROBINSON -- Timeless Love
35. CAST KING -- Saw Mill Man
36. LUPE FIASCO -- Food And Liquor (tie)
THE ROOTS -- Game Theory
37. JOSH RITTER -- The Animal Years
38. MANA -- Amar Es Combatir
39. STEPHEN SONDHEIM/VARIOUS ARTISTS -- Sweeney Todd Original Cast Recording
STEPHEN SONDHEIM/VARIOUS ARTISTS -- Sunday In The Park With George 2006 London Cast Recording
40. MATTHEW SWEET AND SUSANNA HOFFS -- Under The Covers Vol. 1
***
41. DIXIE CHICKS -- Taking The Long Way
42. ELVIS COSTELLO AND ALLEN TOUSSAINT -- The River In Reverse
43. THE FRATELLIS -- Costello Music
44. THE VINES -- Vision Valley
45. VARIOUS ARTISTS -- Leonard Cohen: I'm Your Man Motion Picture Soundtrack
46. LINDA RONSTADT AND ANN SAVOY-- Adieu False Heart
47. JUSTIN TIMBERLAKE -- Futuresex/LoveSounds
48. PAUL SIMON -- Surprise
49. BEIRUT -- Gulag Orkestar
50. NELLIE MCKAY -- Pretty Little Head
THE BEST ALBUMS OF 2005
1. SUFJAN STEVENS – Illinois (eclectic pop)
2. RICHARD SWIFT – The Richard Swift Collection, Volume One (literate pop)
3. THE EELS – Blinking Lights and Other Revelations (suicidal pop)
4. AMADOU AND MARIAM – Dimanche a Bamako (world pop)
5. BETTYE LAVETTE – I’ve Got My Own Hell To Raise
VARIOUS ARTISTS – I Believe To My Soul (soul)
6. THE WHITE STRIPES – Get Behind Me Satan (bluesy pop)
BRIGHT EYES – I’m Wide Awake, It’s Morning (folkie pop)
KAISER CHIEFS -- Employment (righteous rock)
7. NEIL DIAMOND – 12 Songs (pop via Brill Building)
8. HANNA MCEUEN -- Hanna McEuen (country by way of Everly Brothers)
9. THE MAGIC NUMBERS – The Magic Numbers (60s pop via UK)
PAUL MCCARTNEY -- Chaos and Creation In The Backyard (Beatles-esque, surprisingly)
10. VARIOUS ARTISTS – Does Anybody Know I’m Here? Vietnam Through The Eyes of Black America (protest pop)
VARIOUS ARTISTS -- Night Train To Nashville: Music City Rhythm And Blues 1945-1970 Vol. Two
***
11. WOLF PARADE – Apologies to the Queen Mary
CLAP YOUR HANDS, SAY YEAH -- Clap Your Hands, Say Yeah
BROKEN SOCIAL SCENE -- Broken Social Scene
MARAH – If You Didn’t Laugh, You’d Cry (return of Talking Heads)
12. BILL CHARLAP AND SANDY STEWART – Love Is Here To Stay (telepathic jazz duets)
13. LEWIS TAYLOR – Stoned (what Prince and Stevie Wonder used to be)
14. ALI FARKA TOURE AND TOUMANI DIABATE – In The Heart Of The Moon (world music)
15. FIONA APPLE – Extraordinary Machine (pop, the hard way)
16. HEARTLESS BASTARDS – Stairs and Elevators (rock n roll)
17. VARIOUS ARTISTS – Son Cubano NYC: Cuban Roots, New York Spices 1972-82 (salsa)
18. HARD-FI – Stars Of CCTV (British rock)
19. NEIL YOUNG – Prairie Wind (folk rock staring death in the face and smiling)
20. SUPERGRASS – Road To Rouen (under-appreciated rock)
THE BEST ALBUMS OF 2004
GREEN DAY -- American Idiot
JOHNNY CASH -- My Mother's Hymn Book
kd lang -- Hymns Of The 49th Parallel
BRIAN WILSON -- Brian Wilson Presents Smile
AMADOU AND MARIAM -- Dimanche a Bamako
MAX RICHTER -- The Blue Notebooks
VARIOUS ARTISTS -- Night Train To Nashville: Music City Rhythm And Blues 1945-1970
NORAH JONES -- Feels Like Home
LEONARD COHEN -- Dear Heather
MORRISSEY -- You Are The Quarry
THE ROOTS -- The Tipping Point
LORETTA LYNNE -- Van Lear Rose
ANDY BEY -- American Song
THE STREETS -- A Grand Don't Come For Free
KONONO NO. 1 -- Congotronics
THE MAGNETIC FIELDS -- i
ELTON JOHN -- Peachtree Road
KANYE WEST -- College Dropout
WILCO -- A Ghost Is Born
THE BEST ALBUMS OF 2003
THE WHITE STRIPES -- Elephant
JOHNNY CASH -- Unearthed
RUFUS WAINWRIGHT -- Want One
BOZ SCAGGS -- But Beautiful
OUTKAST -- Speakerboxxx/The Love Below
VARIOUS ARTISTS -- Avenue Q (Original Cast Recording)
AMY WINEHOUSE -- Frank
FOUNTAINS OF WAYNE -- Welcome Interstate Managers
EMMYLOU HARRIS -- Stumble Into Grace
THE STROKES -- Room On Fire
THE JAYHAWKS -- Rainy Day Music
MARIA MCKEE -- High Dive
JOE JACKSON -- Volume 4
ALICIA KEYS -- The Diary Of Alicia Keys
SUFJAN STEVENS -- Michigan
JUNE CARTER CASH -- Wildwood Flower
THE BEST ALBUMS OF 2002
NORAH JONES -- Come Away With Me
WILCO -- Yankee Hotel Foxtrot
ORCHESTRA BAOBAB -- Specialist In All Styles
BRIGHT EYES -- Lifted or The Story Is In The Soil Keep Your Ear To The Ground
VARIOUS ARTISTS -- Music from The Singing Detective And More
BECK -- Sea Change
DIXIE CHICKS -- Home
LINDA THOMPSON -- Fashionably Late
SOLOMON BURKE -- Don't Give Up On Me
PETER WOLF -- Sleepless
JOHNNY CASH -- American IV: The Man Comes Around
EMINEM -- The Eminem Show
YOUSSOU N'DOUR -- Nothing's In Vain
RON SEXSMITH -- Cobblestone
TOM WAITS -- Alice/Blood Money
NITTY GRITTY DIRT BAND/VARIOUS ARTISTS -- Will The Circle Be Unbroken Vol. III
DAMON ALBARN -- Mali Music
SUPER FURRY ANIMALS -- Rings Around The World
COLDPLAY -- A Rush of Blood To The Head
THE ROOTS -- Phrenology
LINDA LEWIS -- Reach For The Truth: Best Of The Reprise Years 1971-1974)
VARIOUS ARTISTS -- Hairspray (Original Cast Recording)
THE VINES -- Highly Evolved
STEVE EARLE -- Jerusalem
THE STREETS -- Original Pirate Material
PHILIP GLASS -- The Hours
RUFUS WAINWRIGHT -- Poses
WEEZER -- Maladroit
THE BEST ALBUMS OF 2001
MANU CHAO -- Proxima Estacion: Esperanza
RYAN ADAMS -- Gold
BOB DYLAN -- Love And Theft
THE STROKES -- Is This It?
kd lang and TONY BENNETT -- A Wonderful World
RADIOHEAD -- Amnesiac
LEONARD COHEN -- Ten New Songs
SUZANNE VEGA -- Songs In Red And Gray
DOLLY PARTON -- Little Sparrow
THE WHITE STRIPES -- White Blood Cells
DIANA KRALL -- The Look Of Love
VARIOUS ARTISTS -- Nuggets II: Original Artyfacts From The British Empire And Beyond
MERLE HAGGARD -- Roots
WEEZER -- Weezer (The Green Album)
RON SEXSMITH -- Blue Boy
GILLIAN WELCH -- Time (The Revelator)
ELTON JOHN -- Songs From The West Coast
NEIL DIAMOND -- Three Chord Opera
HARRY CONNICK JR. -- 30
BEN FOLDS -- Rockin' The Suburbs
THE BEST ALBUMS OF 2000
EMINEM -- The Marshall Mathers LP
RYAN ADAMS -- Heartbreaker
RADIOHEAD -- Kid A
JONI MITCHELL -- Both Sides Now
OUTKAST -- Stankonia
JOHNNY CASH -- American III: Solitary Man
THE BEATLES -- 1
VARIOUS ARTISTS -- O Brother, Where Art Thou?
SHELBY LYNNE -- I Am Shelby Lynne
D'ANGELO -- Voodoo
AIMEE MANN -- Bachelor No. 2
BILLY BRAGG AND WILCO -- Mermaid Avenue Vol. II
VARIOUS ARTISTS -- The Wild Party (Original Broadway Cast Recording)
THE JAYHAWKS -- Smile
MERLE HAGGARD -- If I Could Only Fly
NEIL YOUNG -- Silver and Gold
VARIOUS ARTISTS -- Kings Of The Gospel Highway: The Golden Age Of Gospel Quartets
ELVIS PRESLEY -- Peace In The Valley: The Complete Gospel Recordings
TEDDY THOMPSON -- Teddy Thompson
THE BEST ALBUMS OF 1999
DAVID GRAY -- White Ladder
LINDA RONSTADT AND EMMYLOU HARRIS -- Western Wall
THE MAGNETIC FIELDS -- 69 Love Songs
MOBY -- Play
THE ROOTS -- Things Fall Apart
STEVE EARLE AND THE DEL MCCOURY BAND -- The Mountain
EMINEM -- The Slim Shady LP
JOHN CAMERON MITCHELL -- Hedwig and the Angry Inch
DOLLY PARTON, LINDA RONSTADT, EMMYLOU HARRIS -- Trio II
TOM WAITS -- Mule Varaiations
FOUNTAINS OF WAYNE -- Utopia Parkway
FIONA APPLE -- When The Pawn...
RICHARD THOMPSON -- Mock Tudor
DIXIE CHICKS -- Fly
MESHELL NDEGEOCELLO -- Bitter
WILCO -- Summerteeth
DOLLY PARTON -- The Grass is Blue
THE BEST ALBUMS OF 1998
BILLY BRAGG AND WILCO -- Mermaid Avenue
LUCINDA WILLIAMS -- Car Wheels On A Gravel Road
THE BETA BAND -- The Three E.p.'s
BOB DYLAN -- The Bootleg Series Vol. 4, Bob Dylan Live 1966, The "Royal Albert Hall" Concert
BEASTIE BOYS -- Hello Nasty
THE MAVERICKS -- Trampoline
OUTKAST -- Aquemini
VARIOUS ARTISTS -- Nuggets: Original Artyfacts From The First Psychedelic Era 1965-1968 (boxed set)
ELVIS COSTELLO -- Painted From Memory
DIXIE CHICKS -- Wide Open Spaces
RUFUS WAINWRIGHT -- Rufus Wainwright
AIR -- Moon Safari
MANU CHAO -- Clandestino
DAVID GRAY -- Lost Songs 95-98
SMOKEY ROBINSON AND THE MIRACLES -- The Ultimate Collection
BELLE AND SEBASTIAN -- The Boy With The Arab Strap
KATE AND ANNA MCGARRIGLE -- The McGarrigle Hour
EVA CASSIDY -- Songbird
LAURYN HILL -- The Miseducation Of Lauryn Hill
THE BEST ALBUMS OF 1997
RADIOHEAD -- O.K. Computer
BOB DYLAN -- Time Out Of Mind
BUENA VISTA SOCIAL CLUB -- Buena Vista Social Club
DOLLY PARTON -- The Essential Dolly Parton, Vol. 2
THE NOTORIOUS B.I.G. -- Life After Death
SUPERGRASS -- In It For The Money
VARIOUS ARTISTS -- Beg, Scream and Shout! The Big Ol' Box of 60s Soul
WHISKEYTOWN -- Strangers Almanac
ALISON KRAUSS -- So Long So Wrong
RAY CHARLES -- Genius and Soul: The 50th Anniversary Collection
ADAM GUETTEL -- Floyd Collins
NICK CAVE -- The Boatman's Call
SINEAD O'CONNOR -- Gospel Oak EP
MISSISSIPPI JOHN HURT -- Legend
STEVE EARLE -- El Corazon
PREFAB SPROUT -- Andromeda Heights
THE BEST ALBUMS OF 1996
BECK -- Odelay
RADIOHEAD -- The Bends
SUZANNE VEGA -- Nine Objects Of Desire
WILCO -- Being There
JOHNNY CASH -- Unchained
WEEZER -- Pinkerton
BELLE AND SEBASTIAN -- Tigermilk/If You're Feeling Sinister
NICK CAVE -- Murder Ballads
KATE AND ANNA MCGARRIGLE -- Matapedia
STEVE EARLE -- I Feel Alright
MARIA MCKEE -- Life Is Sweet
PHILIP GLASS -- The Secret Agent
MAXWELL -- Maxwell's Urban Hang Suite
EVERYTHING BUT THE GIRL -- Walking Wounded
VARIOUS ARTISTS -- The Doo Wop Box II
THE BLUE NILE -- Peace At Last
THE FUGEES -- The Score
BOZ SCAGGS -- Fade Into Light
THE BEST ALBUMS OF 1995
THE MAVERICKS -- Music For All Occasions
ALISON KRAUSS -- Now That I've Found You: A Collection
ELVIS PRESLEY -- Walk A Mile In My Shoes: The Essential '70s Masters
PJ HARVEY -- To Bring You My Love
OASIS -- (What's The Story) Morning Glory
THE JAYHAWKS -- Tomorrow The Green Grass
BLUR -- The Great Escape
D'ANGELO -- Brown Sugar
VARIOUS ARTISTS -- Thunder Before Dawn: The Indestructible Beat Of Soweto Volume Two/The Indestructible Beat Of Soweto Volume Three: Freedom Fire
RON SEXSMITH -- Ron Sexsmith
BJORK -- Post
STEVE EARLE -- Train A Comin'
EMMYLOU HARRIS -- Wreckin' Ball
CHRIS ISAAK -- Forever Blue
BOB MARLEY AND THE WAILERS -- Natural Mystic: The Legend Lives On
ALANIS MORISSETTE -- Jagged Little Pill
DWIGHT YOAKUM -- Gone
CASSANDRA WILSON -- New Moon Daughter
PAUL WELLER -- Stanley Road
SUPERGRASS -- I Should Coco
AIMEE MANN -- I'm With Stupid
THE BEAUTIFUL SOUTH -- Carry On...Up The Charts
DOLLY PARTON -- The Essential Dolly Parton, Vol. 2
AL STEWART -- Between The Wars
BRIAN WILSON AND VAN DYKE PARKS -- Orange Crate Art
JERRY LEE LEWIS -- Young Blood
THE 6THS -- Wasps' Nests
THE BEST ALBUMS OF 1994
JOHNNY CASH -- American Recordings
NAS -- Illmatic
GREEN DAY -- Dookie
NIRVANA -- Unplugged In New York
THE MAVERICKS -- What A Crying Shame
BLUR -- Parklife
HOLE -- Live Through This
OASIS -- Definitely Maybe
FRANK SINATRA AND TOMMY DORSEY-- The Song Is You! 1940-1942 on RCA Victor
BEASTIE BOYS -- Ill Communication
VARIOUS ARTISTS -- The Doo Wop Box
BECK -- Mellow Gold/One Foot In The Grave
ROSEMARY CLOONEY -- Still On The Road
GRANDMASTER FLASH AND THE FURIOUS FIVE -- Message From Beat Street: The Best Of Grandmaster Flash, Melle Mel and the Furious Five
MORRISSEY -- Vauxhall And I
THE NOTORIOUS B.I.G. -- Ready To Die
PEARL JAM -- Vitalogy
VARIOUS ARTISTS -- Passion (Original Cast Recording)
JEFF BUCKLEY -- Grace
WEEZER -- Weezer
EVERYTHING BUT THE GIRL -- Amplified Heart
IRIS DEMENT -- My Life
CHARLIE HADEN QUARTET WEST -- Always Say Goodbye
THE MAGNETIC FIELDS -- The Charm Of The Highway Strip
ERIC DOLPHY -- Space-Age Bachelor Pad Music
JONI MITCHELL -- Turbulent Indigo
TONY BENNETT -- MTV Unplugged: Tony Bennett
THE BEST ALBUMS OF 1993
CASSANDRA WILSON -- Blue Light 'Til Dawn
DWIGHT YOAKAM -- This Time
AIMEE MANN -- Whatever
PEARL JAM -- Vs.
MESHELL NDEGEOCELLO -- Plantation Lullabies
ROSEMARY CLOONEY -- Do You Miss New York?
CHRIS ISAAK -- San Francisco Days
ARVO PART -- Te Deum
ELVIS PRESLEY -- From Nashville To Memphis: The Essential '60s Masters
JIMMIE DALE GILMORE -- Spinning Around The Sun
NIRVANA -- In Utero
VARIOUS ARTISTS -- Mambo Kings Play Songs Of Love (compilation, not soundtrack)
PET SHOP BOYS -- Very
WU-TANG CLAN -- Enter The Wu-Tang
SHELBY LYNNE -- Temptation
TOM WAITS -- The Black Rider
TERENCE TRENT D'ARBY -- Symphony Or Damn
ZAP MAMA -- Adventures In Afropea
TONY BENNETT -- Steppin' Out
BOB DYLAN -- World Gone Wrong
ELVIS COSTELLO -- The Juliet Letters
COUNTING CROWS -- August And Everything After
THE BEST ALBUMS OF 1992
kd lang -- Ingenue
R.E.M. -- Automatic For The People
ABBA -- Gold
LOS LOBOS -- Kiko
THE JAYHAWKS -- Hollywood Town Hall
ELVIS PRESLEY -- The King Of Rock 'n' Roll: The Complete '50s Masters
MORRISSEY -- Your Arsenal
LYLE LOVETT -- Joshua Judges Ruth
TOM WAITS -- Bone Machine
CHARLIE HADEN QUARTET WEST -- Haunted Heart
NEIL YOUNG -- Harvest Moon
DR. DRE -- The Chronic
ERIC CLAPTON -- Unplugged
HENRYK GORECKI -- Symphony No. 3
ANNIE LENNOX -- Diva
LEONARD COHEN -- The Future
EVERYTHING BUT THE GIRL -- Acoustic
BOB DYLAN -- Good As I Been To You
SHIRLEY HORN -- Here's To Life
TONY BENNETT -- Perfectly Frank
LINDSEY BUCKINGHAM -- Out Of The Cradle
ARRESTED DEVELOPMENT -- 3 Years, 5 Months and 2 Days In The Life Of...
HARRY CONNICK JR. -- 25
THE BEST ALBUMS OF 1991
NIRVANA -- Nevermind
U2 -- Achtung Baby
RICHARD THOMPSON -- Rumor And Sigh
RAY CHARLES -- The Birth of Soul (boxed set)
BILLIE HOLIDAY -- The Complete Decca Recordings
BILLIE HOLIDAY -- The Complete Billie Holiday on Verve 1945-1959 (1991 boxed set)
PEARL JAM -- Ten
VARIOUS ARTISTS -- Beauty and the Beast Original Motion Picture Soundtrack
JIMMIE DALE GILMORE -- After Awhile
SHIRLEY HORN -- You Won't Forget Me
PHIL SPECTOR -- Back To Mono 1958-1969 (boxed set)
BARBRA STREISAND -- Just For The Record... (boxed set)
STEPHEN SONDHEIM -- Assassins Original Cast Recording
ARVO PART -- Miserere
BOB DYLAN -- The Bootleg Series Vol. 1-3 (Rare and Unreleased)
COLE PORTER/EVANS HAILE -- Fifty Million Frenchmen
ABBEY LINCOLN -- You Gotta Pay The Band
THE BEST ALBUMS OF 1990
MADONNA -- The Immaculate Collection
HAPPY MON
